tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Nov 27 15:42:21 2007

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Re: Klingon WOTD: chut (noun)

Alan Anderson ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

ja' Voragh:

> They are irrelevant homonyms.

That sounds like a cop-out.

I'm not disparaging your mention of {DIj} appearing in both {bo'DIj}  
and {ghIpDIj}.  It's fine to point out a common syllable in a couple  
of words having meanings in the same general realm of existence.  But  
I think extending that observation to conclude that the syllable  
*carries* a specific meaning is going a bit overboard.  I especially  
object to your explicitly dismissing the counterexamples as  
"irrelevant".  How do you know there isn't an etymological  
connection?  Isn't it just as likely that the commonality between the  
words is a simple homonym as well?

> I didn't think I needed to add "having anything to do with courts and
> trials" in each case, but obviously I was wrong.

Your comment about "otherwise unattested" had reminded me of a phrase  
in TKD where Okrand *did* add the disclaimer.  It was something to  
the effect that "there is no word {yo'} having to do with ships".  I  
was already primed to point out counterexamples.

> Surely you don't think all instances of {cha'}, for example, must be
> etymologically related merely because they sound alike?

In the case of {DIj}, only two apparently related words share an  
otherwise unexplained syllable that also appears in other apparently  
unrelated words.  Even if those two instances *are* etymologically  
related, it doesn't mean the relationship is as obvious as you  
proposed.  Consider {nenghep} and {nentay}: the common syllable and  
translations imply that {nen} is a syllable having to do with  
ascension.  We know otherwise, of course, and it's apparent that the  
customary translation is merely a fancy label for reaching maturity.   
Similarly, I can imagine that the purported bound *{DIj} could  
literally have something to do with physical combat rather than what  
we think of as a court of law, in which case the verb would be  
completely relevant.

-- ghunchu'wI'

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