tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Mar 01 06:29:33 2010

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RE: Philosophical plurals...

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) 

qaS'ar lI' asked:
>What plural does the word for "corpse" take? Is it *lompu'* or is it *lommey
>* ? Given the Klingon love of combat and poetry, this subject must've come
>up at some point. I ask partly from linguistic curiosity, and from a
>philosophical standpoint.

DloraH asked Marc Okrand a similar question about {lom} at Praxis Con (May 1998):

  When someone dies, if you are talking about the "person" they
  get {-wI'}; and of course if you are referring to the empty shell
  that is left, it gets a {-wIj}.  [DloraH]
 
Thus if one still views corpses as individual "persons" you can use {lompu'} - Terran might well do this - otherwise Klingons use {lommey} to refer to them as empty shells.


>Corpses are, in the context I'm curious about, objects that at one time
>possessed the capacity for speech. In that instance, *-pu'* would seem to
>be the most appropriate. However, since they cannot use language *now*, and
>knowing that Klingon's treat the body as "an empty shell" when the spirit
>passes from it (I believe I took that from the Klingon CD-ROM game), it

The writers of the game took that from TNG "Heart of Glory":  After the spirit has departed the body, Klingon warriors consider the corpse to be only an "empty shell", to be disposed of accordingly.

>would seem to make *-mey* most appropriate. If that is the case, what is
>a Klingon poet to do to differentiate "corpses" from "corpses scattered all
>about", which is necessary to make any battle aftermath scene complete?

OTOH Klingon spirits, which leave the body upon death, are always referred to as {qa'pu'}:

  ... the plural of {Qun} [god, supernatural being] is {Qunpu'} since
  they are or were presumably capable of using language, which is what
  the plural suffix {-pu'} implies ... {Qunpu'} are distinct from {qa'pu'}
  "spirits" (such as the spirits of the dishonored dead which reside
  at Gre'thor).   (st.k 7/19/99)

    ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu' 
    when spirits escape from Gre'thor (KGT)

  Note that the word for spirit, {qa'}, takes the plural suffix {-pu'},
  which is used for beings capable of using language. Spirits do
  speak.  (KGT 117)

    HeghDI' SuvwI' nargh SuvwI' qa' 
    When a warrior dies, his spirit escapes. (TKW)

  Thus, perhaps the Klingons are saying that when a warrior dies, his
  spirit appears, whereas prior to death it was hidden or disguised by
  the body. Another interpretation is that the spirit was held prisoner
  by the body. Worf told Jeremy, whose mother had been killed, "In my
  tradition, we do not grieve the loss of the body. We celebrate the
  releasing of the spirit."  (TKW 145; cf. TNG "The Bonding")


-- 
Voragh                          
Canon Master of the Klingons

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