tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 28 10:25:24 2006
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Re: {Qong} and other unattested nouns
Voragh:
>True, though he kept the possibility open. Okrand wrote on
>msn.onstage.startrek.expert.okrand 6/18/1997):
>
> [...] a word like {QongDaq} is evidence that at an
> earlier stage in the language, there may have been a noun {Qong}
> (meaning "sleep" or something similar). Or maybe there was a verb
> suffix {-Daq} meaning "place where one does X". On the other hand,
> you may have uncovered evidence that there is currently a noun {Qong}
> - it just hasn't been attested anywhere else yet, so we should keep
> our eyes peeled. But without further evidence, it's a guess.
>
>Also, note his clever suggestion in accommodating both schools of
>thought: {Qong} may have been a noun in "earlier stage in the
>language", but it's no longer used in the "modern" (24th century) stage.
QeS:
> >I'd say that the word {QongDaq} "bed" is pretty good evidence for an old
> >noun *{Qong}, since the noun-noun construction would be reconstructed as
> >*{Qong Daq}, "sleep location" or "sleep site".
We do have another hint: {QongmeH Duj} "sleeper ship" (SkyBox S15).
The normal pattern of naming ship types ships seems to be NOUN+{Duj} (e.g.
{may'Duj} battle cruiser, {SuyDuj} merchant ship, {toQDuj} Bird-of-Prey,
{veQDuj} garbage scow, {veSDuj} warship). That the "modern" form is not
*{QongDuj} may imply that the noun *{Qong} was no longer used in the 23rd
century (when the K'tinga-class T'Ong set out on her mission). Since beds
predate warp-powered starships with crews in cryogenic sleep, we can infer
the direction of the change: {NOUNDuj} -> {VERBmeH Duj}. If I'm right,
this suggests that the {-meH [NOUN]} form ("purpose nouns") began to be
used for those cases when the homophonous noun had become obsolete or was
lacking altogether.
We have other examples:
{HIvDuj} attack fighter (or "attack ship, frigate (?)")
{HIv} attack, assault (verb only survives)
{qughDuj} cruiser
{qughDo} cruising speed
{qugh} cruise (verb only survives)
{lupDujHom} shuttlecraft
{lup} transport (verb only survives)
But...
{toDDuj} rescue ship
{toD} rescue, save (verb)
{toD} rescue (noun)
This may be an intermediate form, when both the noun and verb have survived
in the modern language.
Note that all these types of ships could easily predate the modern era,
originating back in the days of river- and ocean-going vessels on Kronos.
We do, though, have a counter-example:
{ngongmeH Duj} [experimental ship, prototype] (SkyBox S33)
{ngong} experiment (verb)
{ngong} experiment (noun)
If this form doesn't blow my theory out of the water (as it were!), it may
just be a modern term when the "purpose noun" method of coining new words
had become the norm, particularly for technological vocabulary.
I must admit that "purpose nouns" aren't a brand new development. We know
that {qa'meH vIttlhegh} has changed over time:
This is the only way to say "replacement proverb" currently, but
in the past, the common term was the lengthier {quvqa'meH vIttlhegh},
literally, "proverb for (the purpose of) being honored again.} The
word {qa'meH}, clearly a shortened form of {quvqa'meH}, was origi-
nally used only in the construction of {qa'meH vIttlhegh}, but,
though historically two verb suffixes, it has become accepted as a
noun in its own right, meaning "replacement" in the sense of some-
thing that takes over for or is used instead of something that is
gone or that has been lost. (HolQeD 5.1)
How long this change took is unknown unfortunately. (In order to support
my theory, let me suggest - based on no evidence whatsoever! - that the
term {quvqa'meH vIttlhegh} may only date back 3 or 4 centuries to when
Klingon scholars became interested in collecting their folklore and
classifying the various types and sub-types with fancy scholarly names. <g>)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons