tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 22 13:58:33 2007

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Re: Klingon WOTD: pel'aQ (noun)

Doq ([email protected])



On Jan 22, 2007, at 4:41 PM, Steven Boozer wrote:

> Voragh:
>>>> Category: Body Parts
>>>
>>> Is it really?  If the plural of {QIm} "egg" is {QImmey} (KGT p. 
>>> 88), I would
>>> expect the plural of {pel'aQ} to be ?{pel'aQmey} even though  
>>> it's  never
>>> been attested.  OTOH KGT p.92 says that the shell of an animal is  
>>> {nagh
>>> DIr} and I would expect the plural ?{nagh DIrDu'} as this
>>> definitely is a body part.
>
> Doq:
>> QIm 'oH yInbogh Dol naQ. jatlhlaHbe'.  vaj law'DI', QImmey DIpong.
>> pel'aQ 'oH Dol 'ay'.  vaj law'DI', pel'aQDu' DIpong.
>>
>>>> Additional Notes:
>>>> KGT p. 88.  Curiously, eggs ({QImmey}) do not play a large role  
>>>> in the
>>>> Klingon diet as food items in their own right, though they are  
>>>> mixed into
>>>> many sauces, usually along with the pieces of shell ({pel'aQ}),  
>>>> for flavor
>>>> and texture.  The small eggs of the Tokvirian [sic] skink  
>>>> ({toqvIr lung}),
>>>> however, are often eaten whole, shell and all, usually by the  
>>>> handful.
>>
>> Mmmmmmm. toqvIr lung.  ghaytan toqvIr lung QImmey vISopqa'laHpa'
>> qaSqa' poH 'Iq.  tera'Daq qub 'eb.
>
> Perhaps when eggs are considered as food items, they can take the  
> suffix
> {-mey} instead of the body part suffix {-Du'}.  Maybe this is  
> because one
> eats so many of them (i.e. "usually by the handful") they are no  
> longer
> viewed as body parts.

Eggs are not body parts. They are living beings, incapable of using  
language. The plural uses {-mey}. Egg shells are body parts. The  
plural uses {-Du'}. Eggs and egg shells are not the same thing, and  
the rules applying to their plural forms are not identical.

tlhIngan Hol vIlo' 'e' vInIDta' 'ach jIQumHa'ba'pu'.

> --
> Voragh
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

Doq






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