[Tlhingan-hol] A little bit from Maltz

[Felix Malmenbeck]

buy' ngop! mu'meyvam chu' vIparHa' 'ej lI'qu'. Qapla' Quvar!

> Talking about blankets made Maltz think of bed and he suddenly got 
> tired.  He said he'd work on the other words later on.  I hope that's okay.
latlh mu'mey'a'. Duy' nop!
________________________________________
From: Lieven Litaer [lieven.litaer at web.de]
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 16:04
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: [Tlhingan-hol] A little bit from Maltz

Okay, like I promised yesterday, here is Marc Okrand's Message:

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Subject:     A little bit from Maltz
Date:     Mon, 9 Jan 2012 01:06:14 -0500
From:     Marc Okrand
To:     Lieven Litaer

Lieven --

I'm a little late, but Happy New Year!

[...]

Second -- I've been able to get a little information out of Maltz.  Not
everything -- I'll keep working on him.  But here's some of what you
were asking about.

Words for "bricklayer," "roof maker," "plumber," and so on are all based
on the verb mutlh, meaning "construct, assemble, put together."  Someone
who does this, then, is a mutlhwI'.  Then specific duties can be specified:

bricklayer    ngogh mutlhwI'  (ngogh "brick") (so this is "brick
assembler" or the like)

tiler             majyang mutlhwI' (majyang "tile")

roofer    beb mutlhwI' (beb "roof")

plumber    'och mutlhwI'  ('och "conduit")

electrician     'ul pat mutlhwI'   ('ul "electricity," pat "system")

The idea is that a mutlhwI' puts things together.  So a ngogh mutlhwI'
is not (necessarily) someone who makes bricks, but someone who takes
bricks that are already made and assembles them into something (such as
a building).  Similarly, a beb mutlhwI' doesn't make the roof, but,
rather, lays out the shingles or planks or stones or whatever the roof
is made out of.

Regarding "plumber" -- It turns out there is a special word for "water
pipe" (not what you use for smoking -- the kind that carries water from
place to place): qatlhDa'.  Though one could say qatlhDa' mutlhwI' and
be understood, the normal way to refer to someone putting in pipes (for
water or anything else) is 'och mutlhwI'.

Someone who repairs any of these things (who may or may not be the same
person who installed/assembled them) is a tI'wI' (tI' "repair").  Most
mutlhwI'pu' are also tI'wI'pu' -- but you'd be advised to check with
them first.

A carpet or a rug is tlhIm.  When you lay a carpet, you don't use the
verb mutlh; the appropriate verb is vel ("cover, coat, mask").  One can
say rav vel tlhIm ("the carpet covers the floor"). To to say "lay a
carpet," one says "use a carpet to cover the floor," or rav velmeH tlhIm
lo'.  The person who lays the carpet is a velwI' (literally "coverer,
coater, masker").  You might think that the velwI' is the carpet
itself.  That would make sense, but it doesn'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.

If you did say tlhIm mutlh ("he/she assembled a carpet"),  that would
mean there were pieces of fabric (or squares of carpet?) that got put
together (sewn together?) to make a carpet or rug.

tlhIm is commonly used for a fabric wall hanging (that might, for
example, have a picture of the Klingon emblem on it).  If a piece of
cloth is displayed at the end of a pole, it is considered a joqwI'
("flag"); a tlhIm covers some sort of surface.  Finally, tlhIm can also
mean "blanket."  Maltz said that Klingons generally don't use blankets
(he certainly doesn't), but he's seen them and, if you have to call them
something, tlhIm is it.

Talking about blankets made Maltz think of bed and he suddenly got
tired.  He said he'd work on the other words later on.  I hope that's okay.

Please say hello to Insa for me.

And thanks again for the qepHom!

All the best,

   - Marc








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