[Tlhingan-hol] Eurotalk - New Words - Countries

[De'vID jonpIn]

Voragh:
> Okrand may have used Cantonese before:
>
> WRT {lung} *loong* "type of lizardlike animal":  "Perhaps a pun on the
Chinese word for dragon? In Mandarin, the word is Romanized as *lung*
(Wade-Giles) or *long* (pinyin), and takes the second tone. In Cantonese,
it's usually Romanized as *lung* (fourth tone), although it's also the
*loon* in Kowloon." (Stephen Carter)

I asked MO about <lung> at the qepHom (I am a native Cantonese speaker),
and he said that the similarity is deliberate.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%BE%8D

> WRT {yan} "sword":  In Cantonese, *yahn* means "edge of a sword" (lay'tel
SIvten)

I hadn't heard that this was supposed to be a pun.  I wouldn't have thought
of it if someone hadn't told me (i.e., unlike "dragon", which is
immediately obvious if you say the Klingon word to a Cantonese speaker).
 Yes, it sounds like a word in Cantonese, but it's not a common enough word
that I'd expect someone to know it if they didn't speak the language (the
exception is if they learned Cantonese through association with martial
arts, and know the names of weapons and weapon parts).
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%88%83
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