tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Apr 14 13:34:30 2004

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New vocabulary and {law'/puS} variants (HQ 13.1)

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

I finally received the new HolQeD two days ago and eagerly turned to 
"Maltz's Reward, Part IV" since Lawrence mentioned that Maltz would be 
discussing some variations with the {law'/puS} formula.  Very 
interesting.  I'll wait until everyone else has received their copy to 
discuss those.  I'm surprised that no one else has posted on this, but the 
mails must be particularly slow right now.

In the interim, however, I thought I'd get the ball rolling by sharing the 
new vocabulary with the non-subscribers.  (I know it's hard to believe, but 
there are actually some people on this List who don't subscribe to the 
KLI's scintillating quarterly journal!  I'm sure it's just been an 
oversight on their parts.)

As usual, Mark Okrand slipped a few new words into his examples without any 
fanfare:

{ghun} "be warm" (v.)
  -ghun 'Iw HIq, rap bograt chej
    the bokrat liver is as warm as the bloodwine

Cf. {tuj} "be hot".  I wonder if there's an equivalent quality "be cool"?

{va'nuch} "heel" (n., body part)
  -nIb va'nuchDu'chaj
    "their heels are identical"

{woch} "be tall (in stature)"
  - tlhIngan woch law' tera'ngan woch rap
  - tlhIngan woch law' tera'ngan woch nIb
    "the Klingon is as tall as the Terran"

Ant. {run} "be short (in stature)".  Up till some of us have been using 
*{runHa'} while others have made do with {jen} "be high".

{vIl} "be ridgy"
  - QuchlIj vIl law' QuchwIj vIl pIm
    "your forehead is not as ridgy as my forehead"
  - QuchwIj vIl law' QuchlIj vIl puS
    "my forehead is ridgier than your forehead"
  - QuchlIj vIl law'be' QuchwIj vIl puSbe'
    "your forehead isn't ridgier than my forehead"

Ant. {Hab} "be smooth".  Up till now we've been using {ghegh} "be rough" 
and {tlher} "be lumpy" to describe "ridgy" foreheads... and we still may be 
able to.  In KGT {ghegh} "be rough" and {Hab} "be smooth" are specifically 
listed as antonyms, ironically in a section describing some fanciful 
variations of the {law'/puS} formula:

   Constructions such as the following might be heard, all meaning,
   though not literally, "The Klingon is braver than the Ferengi":
       [...]
    tlhIngan yoH ghegh verengan yoH Hab
    tlhIngan yoH Hab verengan yoH ghegh

Okrand further writes that "If one state of affairs is not inherently 
better or worse than its opposite, the terms may occur in either order" 
(KGT p.179).  Surely that can't be right! <g> (In PK we learned that {Hab 
SoSlI' Quch} "Your mother has a smooth forehead" is the most insulting 
curse of all!)



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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