[Tlhingan-hol] latlh mu' chu'

[Felix Malmenbeck]

Found this comment by Andrew Miller on Quvar's Facebook Doc "News from Maltz: mIllogh" (December 25, 2010):

mIl = SaD/SanID (latIn Hol) ; logh = mu' (HellaS Hol). wa'SaD mu'mey lo'laHghach ghaj mIllogh.

________________________________
From: Felix Malmenbeck [felixm at kth.se]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2012 13:24
To: De'vID jonpIn; tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] latlh mu' chu'

Back when the word was first announced, the most common theory was that it was because we've asked for this word "a million times".
However, I believe it was in the tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI'pu' Facebook group suggesting it was based on the Latin mille "thousand", and the Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos), one of the meanings of which is "word".

These words have spread wide and far since their original use, so Marc could certainly have taken them from another set of languages, but Latin and Ancient Greek strike me as being very likely candidates, as these words are well-known even among non-speakers, and because I'd wager it's difficult to go through an education in linguistics without being heavily exposed to these languages.

________________________________
From: De'vID jonpIn [de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2012 12:11
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] latlh mu' chu'


QeS 'utlh:
> "Finally, someone last year asked for the word for "picture." At first, Maltz
> wondered why {nagh beQ} wasn't good enough. But then he thought about it some
> more and said that another word, {mIllogh}, could be used for any sort of
> depiction, including drawings, photographs, cartoons, icons on 21st-century
> computers, and so on." (Posting to Facebook group {tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI'pu'},
> 1 Dec 2010)
>
> ghaytan jabbI'ID ghItlhlu'pu'bogh 'oH, 'ach jISovchu'be' jIH. 'a tugh QIn mung
> muQIj Quvar 'e' jatlh ghaH, vaj QIjDI' Saja'.
>
> mu'vam qIDHey ghov 'Iv? {{:)

I found this old message while searching for the source of {mIllogh}.  The pun is obvious, at least to me.

In French (and other Latin-descended languages), "mille" means "thousand".

In Persian (and some other Central Asian languages), "loghat" (لغت) means "word".

Does MO know any Middle Eastern or Central Asian language?  This and {tlhIm} suggests that he does, or at least knows a few words.  (I suppose it would not be too difficult for a linguist, or anyone really, to look up words in a dictionary in another language.)

--
De'vID
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