[Tlhingan-hol] qa'vam?

[Steven Boozer]

{bI'reS} also shows up as part of a longer time stamp in the "Message to Kronos" (in re the opera {'u'}):

poH tuj bI'reS nungbogh wa' jaj qeylIS DIS chorghvatlh loSmaH jav qaStaHvIS.
In the days that follow [sic] the summer solstice in the Year of Kahless 846.
('U'-MTK)


From: Felix Malmenbeck [mailto:felixm at kth.se]
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2015 11:37 PM


> My first instinct says no, but then it makes me think of those times

> where I've seen {bI'reS} used as a time stamp roughly equivalent to

> "at first", and though we have no canon for it [...]



We do, actually, from paq'batlh (paq'raD, Canto 18):



bI'reS qeylIS vaq molor



(Don't have the English translation handy, but it's something like "At first, Molor taunts Kahless.")

It is worth noting, however, that paq'batlh is poetic by nature.



It is a pet theory of mine that bI'reS is actually an old word for "beginning", which survives in modern (that is, future) tlhIngan Hol through opera.

However, that is speculation upon speculation, wrapped in speculation (made from 100% organic speculation).



________________________________
From: Rohan Fenwick <qeslagh at hotmail.com<mailto:qeslagh at hotmail.com>>
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 06:02
To: tlhingan-hol at kli.org<mailto:tlhingan-hol at kli.org>
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] qa'vam?

ghItlhpu' naHQun, jatlh:
> How would y'all use {qa'vam}?
> Can I use it as a time stamp?

Ooo. That's a fascinating question. My first instinct says no, but then it makes me think of those times where I've seen {bI'reS} used as a time stamp roughly equivalent to "at first", and though we have no canon for it, I do like that usage. Similarly, if {qa'vam} appears in the right place syntactically, I guess there's no reason it couldn't be interpreted as "in the beginning" (in the biblical sense) or "at the birth of the universe". I don't know how many contexts you could use it in - it's a pretty narrow meaning - but by the same token, {qaStaHvIS qa'vam} doesn't sound quite right to me either.

I suppose it depends how long you want to draw your bow. It's questionable but interesting.

QeS 'utlh
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