tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Apr 12 12:45:13 2006
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Re: mangpu' or negh?
Shane:
> > in that case, we'd be implying old age with ('a') which is something which
> > is insulting to a girl...
ngabwI':
>Not necessarily. {'a'} covers a whole range of concepts, not just age or
>weight.
This suffix indicates that what the noun refers to is bigger,
more important, or more powerful than it would be without the
suffix. (TKD 21)
{be'} "female, woman" vs. {be'Hom} "girl"
{loD} "male, man" vs. {loDHom} "boy"
Just to restate ngabwI's point... The progression could be size or
importance or strength, not necessarily age - or all four at once. We just
don't know.
For that matter the forms *{be''a'} and *{loD'a'} may not even exist - or
may no longer exist - in the "modern" language. As is true with Earth
languages, native speakers may not necessarily use all possible suffixes
with all available nouns however tempting these theoretical forms are to
foreigners learning the language.
As for old age, the verb {qan} "be old (not young)" is available: {be'
qan}, {loD qan}, or even the "gender neutral" {qanwI'}. There's also a
homophone verb {qan} "use the pinkie (little finger)" which can be used to
imply old age. Okrand explains in HolQeD 1.2:
No doubt because of this resemblance, when one points at someone
using the little finger, or when one remarks on this pointing,
the pointer is making a comment on the age of the person being
pointed to.
qI'empeqDaq jIqan
(I think that) K'mpec is old.
(lit. "I point at K'mpec with my little finger")
He goes on to say that to point your pinkie {qanwI'} at someone means that
you believe s/he is old (i.e. {qan}).
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons