[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: lIng

[SuStel]

Here's the post that vanished before I could send it. I don't think I'll 
ever find a completely satisfactory mail client. Sigh.

On 2/1/2016 5:15 PM, lojmIttI'wI'nuv wrote:
> I’m just curious if this is a consensus or something that has any canon
> behind it. I would have thought that {jaj naQ} made sense as “an entire
> day”. {jaj Hoch} makes equally good sense, so I’m not challenging this
> as a perfectly fine option.
>
> I would have thought that “a day, which is whole”  would be more like
> {naQbogh jaj}.

I see no difference between {Xbogh Y} and {Y X}. Klingon relative 
clauses are restrictive. {naQbogh jaj} means "a day which is whole (and 
not one that is partial)." It is not merely describing the day; it is 
limiting it to the class of days that are whole... which is all of them.

Klingon adjectival verbs are also restrictive. {tlhIngan Quch vIlegh} 
means "I see the happy Klingon (not any other kind of Klingon)." It does 
not mean "I see the Klingon (who happens to be happy)." Likewise, {jaj 
naQ} means "day which is whole (not any other kind of day)," not "day 
(which happens to be whole)." All days are whole, unless the planet 
explodes beneath your feet during one.

We do have evidence, however, that using {HochHom} after a noun means 
"most of <noun>." {tera' vatlh DIS poH cha'maH wej HochHom} "most of the 
23rd century" (S15). We have evidence that using {bID} after a noun 
means "half of <noun>." {yopwaH bID} "shorts" (i.e., half of pants); 
{paH bID} "skirt" (i.e., half of gown) (TalkNow!). We have {Hoch} only 
in {targhlIj yab tIn law' no'lI' Hoch yabDu' tIn puS} "your targ has a 
bigger brain than all your ancestors put together," though this could be 
either {[no'lI' Hoch] yabDu'} "the brains of [all your ancestors]" or 
{no'lI' [Hoch yabDu']} "[all the brains] of your ancestors," so it's not 
clear. In general, I believe that nouns expressing an abstract quantity 
of something (including {'op}, which has never come after a noun) can be 
modified by nouns genitively to mean "<quantity> of <noun>."

Meanwhile, the only use of {naQ} as a verb that we have is {cha' choQmey 
naQ} "two full decks" (meaning they're not half-decks) (BoP). It does 
not mean "all of two decks." {naQ} has never been used to mean "all of 
<noun>."

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name