tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Jan 22 06:11:43 2012

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Re: [Tlhingan-hol] nuq bop bom: 'ay' wa'vatlh wejmaH wej: <qama' mIwmey>

De'vID jonpIn ([email protected])



<p><br>
Quvar:<br>
&gt;&gt;&gt; mInDu&#39;lIj vIvel jIH. bIH vIvelmeH ghopwIj vIlo&#39;.</p>
<p>QeS &#39;utlh:<br>
&gt;&gt; Given the example of {rav vel tlhIm}, I&#39;d have thought {bIH velmeH} &quot;in order<br>
&gt;&gt; that they [my hands] cover them&quot; would be better.</p>
<p>Quvar:<br>
&gt; I see your point, but it is &quot;I&quot; who am covering it, using my hands; adapting the right prefixes on the example:<br>
&gt; {rav   velmeH tlhIm   lo&#39;}<br>
&gt; {rav vIvelmeH tlhIm vIlo&#39;}</p>
<p>Wait a minute -- in the sentence {rav velmeH tlhIm lo&#39;}, what&#39;s the subject of {vel}?  Is it (adding a comma and putting implied nouns in [brackets] to make things more clear):<br>
{tlhIm} - <br>
    {rav velmeH [tlhIm], tlhIm lo&#39; [velwI&#39;]} <br>
    (alternatively, {rav velmeH tlhIm, [tlhIm] lo&#39; [velwI&#39;]}); or<br>
{velwI&#39;} -<br>
    {rav velmeH [velwI&#39;], tlhIm lo&#39; [velwI&#39;]}?</p>
<p>I read MO&#39;s message as indicating that the {tlhIm} (or whatever is actually being used to cover something) is always the subject of {vel}.  This (I thought) was why he specifically pointed out that one might have expected the {velwI&#39;} to refer to the carpet and not to the carpet layer.</p>

<p>Thus, I&#39;d have expected &quot;I carpet the floor&quot; to be:<br>
{rav velmeH tlhIm vIlo&#39;}</p>
<p>Here&#39;s the relevant portion of the message from MO explaining {vel}:<br>
&gt; A carpet or a rug is tlhIm.  When you lay a carpet, you don&#39;t use the verb mutlh; the appropriate verb is vel (&quot;cover, coat, mask&quot;).  One can say rav vel tlhIm (&quot;the carpet covers the floor&quot;). To to say &quot;lay a carpet,&quot; one says &quot;use a carpet to cover the floor,&quot; or rav velmeH tlhIm lo&#39;.  The person who lays the carpet is a velwI&#39; (literally &quot;coverer, coater, masker&quot;).  You might think that the velwI&#39; is the carpet itself.  That would make sense, but it doesn&#39;t work that way.  Maltz commented that Klingon rugs are primarily decorative.  The idea of a fabric floor covering being thick or soft was just bizarre to him.</p>

<p>--<br>
De&#39;vID</p>
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