tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 29 19:38:37 2005

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Re: Klingon WOTD: qoH (noun)

QeS lagh ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' qIno'rIq:

>Actually, I had the word homophone in mind to be (kind of) glossed by using
>{rapmeH wab mu'}.

{-meH} indicates "in order to", and is purposive, particularly when it 
modifies nouns. There's no purpose inherent in the word "homophone". We have 
the canon phrase {ghojmeH taj}, but in that phrase, the knife is for the 
purpose of learning: it's a tool for that purpose. In your version, the 
sense that comes across to me is that the German language has somehow 
created a word for the express purpose of sounding the same as the Klingon 
word, which obviously isn't the case. The two just happen to sound the same; 
there's no purpose involved (unless Dr Okrand once had a German cook who 
happened not to be particularly skilled? :D).

I suspect that what you may be trying to do is preserve "homophone"'s noun 
status, which isn't necessarily the right thing to do. Far easier is to go 
straight to the meaning: "a word which sounds the same". I still think that 
{mu'vam wab rurbogh mu''e'} "a word which resembles this word's sound", or 
some other construct using {-bogh}, is what you're looking for (and which 
still behaves like a noun, FWIW).

And in case you're wondering, {rur} doesn't just refer to visual 
resemblance. From KGT, we have a large series of similes constructed using 
{rur}, including {HoSghaj; mupwI' rur} "as powerful as a hammer" and {nong; 
vulqangan rur} "as passionate as a Vulcan".

taH:

>Is there a "Dictionary of Klingon Linguistics" around, yet? }};-)

Do'Ha' tu'be'lu' 'e' vIHar. wIloStaH. {{;)

Savan,

QeS lagh
taghwI' pabpo' / Beginners' Grammarian


not nItoj Hemey ngo' juppu' ngo' je
(Old roads and old friends will never deceive you)
     - Ubykh Hol vIttlhegh

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