tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 12 09:50:32 2003

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Re: Klingon WOTD: ngugh (adv)

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 


> > This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Friday, December 12, 2003.
> >
> > Klingon word:     ngugh
> > Part of Speech:   adverb
> > Definition:       then, at that time
> >
> > Additional Notes: It is used mainly to emphasize

Tyler wrote:
>As used in canon (startrek.klingon):
>
>{vagh SanID ben buDbe' wamwI'pu'.  ngugh Ho'Du'chaj lo' chaH,
>  'ach DaH tajmey lo'.}
>"5,000 years ago, hunters were not lazy.  Then (at that time)
>  they used their teeth, but now they use knives." (startrek.klingon)
>
>{DungluQ tIHIv. ngugh Qongbe' chaH.}
>"Attack them at noon! They won't be sleeping then." or
>"Attack them at noon. They're not sleeping then." (startrek.klingon)

Here's Okrand's explanation from his st.k post (Nov. 1999):

   There is an adverbial which means "then" in the sense of "at
   that time" (as opposed to "subsequently"). And there is also
   an idiom meaning something like "by that time." The adverbial
   is {ngugh}. It is used mainly to emphasize that a particular
   event occurred at the same time as something else, though
   {ngugh} doesn't indicate what that time is. Something else in
   the discussion makes that clear. {ngugh} does not mean "at some
   (vague) time in the past" or "at some (unknown) time in the
   future.

Note:  The other expression Okrand refers to are {ghIq} "and then, after 
that, by then, subsequently" and the idiom {pumDI' ('etlh)}.  None of these 
are listed in TKD or KGT.



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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