tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 23 17:20:45 2003

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Re: jIDach, 'ach jIHeghbe'bej!

ngabwI' wrote:
>juHwIj mup *muD 'ul* (lightning).
>
>Can lightning {mup}? I've never been struck, but I ran into an electric 
>fence once (long story), and it certainly felt like someone {mup}'ed the 
>h**l out of me.

Here's how {mup} "impact, strike" is used by Okrand:

   moQDaq DuQwI'Hommey jej tu'lu'. pay' HIvDI' lo'wI' pagh mupDI' QIHchu' bIH.
   A brutally spiked pommel fastens the hilt together to provide a damaging
   surprise attack or give a devastating backhand stroke. SP2

And there are the derived nouns {mupwI'} "hammer:

   "the hammer is a symbol of power to Klingons" (TKW 120)

   mupwI' yI'uchtaH
   Keep holding the hammer! TKW

   HoSghaj; mupwI' rur
   powerful as a hammer KGT

and {mupwI'Hom} "mallet (for striking a musical instrument)".

>{mup} suggests to me a sudden, forceful closing of the space between two 
>objects, with the object of the verb being stationary, and the subject 
>closing the space. I know lightning doesn't do this, but it appears to. So 
>does this use of {mup} strike (NPI) anyone as wrong?

It sounds good to me, certainly in a figurative or metaphorical sense, 
though I think you're over-thinking it.

FYI, we also have the verbs {qIp} "hit (with hand, fist, implement)" - with 
examples:

maqIpchuq
we hit each other TKW

qama' vIqIppu' neH
I merely hit the prisoner. TKW

qIppu'bogh yaS vIlegh
I see the officer who hit him. TKW

yaS qIppu' 'e' vIlegh
I saw him hit the officers. TKD

qIpmeH Qatlh'a'?
Difficult to hit? ST5

tIqIpqu' 'ej nom tIqIp
Hit them hard and hit them fast. TKW

yIQeqQo' neH. DoS yIqIp
Don't just aim; hit the target! TKW

wa' DoS wIqIp
We hit one target (idiom: We agree.) KGT

cha' DoSmey DIqIp
We hit two targets (idiom: We disagree.) KGT
(lit. "We hit scattered targets.") KGT

ray' wIqIp
We hit targets. KGT

and {moq} "beat (with implement)", which is described in KGT:

   The general term for a percussion instrument of any kind is {'In}. [...]
   Other members of this group of instruments are hit with a stick of some
   kind. The stick often resembles a small hammer; when it does, it is termed
   {mupwI'Hom} (literally, "small striker"). A plain stick is a {naQHom}
   (literally, "small cane" or "small staff"). To strike the instrument with
   a stick is to {moq} ("beat") the instrument. (KGT 74-75) .

   When the parties are ready, a third party, sort of a referee, says {moq},
   the signal to begin. The verb {moq} literally means "beat" and it is a
   clipped form of, perhaps, {vImoq} ("I beat it") or even {vImoqpu'} ("I
   have beaten it"). In times past, one would hit something (such as a drum)
   with a stick to indicated the start of the duel; today, one simply says
   the word "beat". (KGT 69)



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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