tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 19 09:31:51 2004
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: meQ (was Re: suggestions please)
Voragh:
>> >That's the noun. {laQ} "fire (ignite?)" and {meQ} "burn (be burnt/on
>> >fire?)" are verbs.
QeS lagh:
>>Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't {meQ} been used in canon as a transitive
>>verb as well? I just ran a search of my canon database and couldn't find it,
>>but I seem to recall seeing {meQ} cited on this list at some point for "burn
>>(transitive), cause to burn".
lay'tel SIvten:
>{to'waQ meQ vutwI'.} The cook burns the tendon. [KGT 191]
>
>This is a possible misinterpretation/mispronunciation of
>{to'waQ mIQ vutwI'.} The cook deep-fries the tendon. [KGT 191]
>and so it may be grammatically anomalous.
Indeed. {meQ} is one of our problem words. It's been used as an action
verb intransitively:
meQtaHbogh qachDaq Suv qoH neH
Only a fool fights in a burning house. TKW
[lit. "in a building that is burning"]
as an action verb transitively:
to'waQ meQ vutwI'
The cook burns the tendon. KGT
and as a quality:
Ha'DIbaHmey meQ Sop 'e' tIv tera'nganpu'
Terrans enjoy eating burnt animals. CK
[sic! for {'e' *lu*tIv tera'nganpu'}]
This CK example is the problem. Note too the grammatical error with the
verb prefix. Perhaps this is just careless or a colloquial usage.
Perhaps, too, the speaker (Worf's brother Kurnn IIRC) was struggling to
come up with a way to refer to the bizarre Terran practice of heating
(burning? ruining?) perfectly good meat before eating it. Cf. Okrand on
{vut} "cook}:
Actually, "cook" is a convenient but misleading term. The Klingon
verb {vut}, customarily rendered as "cook" in Federation Standard
and used in reference to food only, might better be translated
simply as "prepare, make, fix, assemble" in order to avoid associ-
ation of the word with heat. This is not to say that heat never
plays a role in Klingon food preparation, but rather that it is
not a defining feature of the process. There are specific words
for specific activities involved with food preparation, but {vut}
is a general term for all of them. In fact, {vut} can also be used
in reference to making a beverage, whether simply mixing ingredients
together (such a putting cream in coffee) or starting from scratch
(such as brewing ale). (KGT 83)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons