[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tey'be'

[Felix Malmenbeck]

> When I learned English, I was like... why do you just call
> everyone "uncle" and "aunt" or "cousin"? Then how do
> people know how they're related to you?

I had a similar experience. It was weird enough grouping my paternal aunt with my maternal ones, I found it downright frustrating reading a story about a kid and his/her grandmother and not knowing *which* grandmother.

Also, as much as I'd love to have Klingon words for "sibling" and "parent", I should confess that Swedish doesn't really have good words for "grandparent" or "parent's sibling". I mean, it's simple enough to construct one that would be unambiguously understood, but it sounds weird; if I need to say that my grandparents are coming over, I normally mention each of them in term, just as in Klingon I have to say {SoSwI' vavwI' je} or {be'nI'wI' loDnI'wI' je}.

By the way, in case anybody's wondering if there are any languages who have words for cousins, nieces and nephews similar to those of Klingon: There are!
http://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/odoozhimisan-nad    

I am curious as to why Klingons group relatives the way they do. In human societies, people have often kept track of parallel and cross siblings to keep track of inheritances, or to keep their patrilineal and matrilineal lines nice and tidy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_and_cross_cousins    

Perhaps Klingons keep track of this for similar reasons. Or perhaps it's related to some form of honor system; perhaps the standing of your {tey'} influences your own more than that of your {lor}. Perhaps that's why, as Maltz says, you're more likely to confide in the former than the latter.

jatlh yu'wI', 'urmo' tey'lI' qoplu'ta' qar'a'?
jatlh muvqangwI', ghobe'. lorwI' neH ghaH.
jatlh yu'wI', DaSjaj jumuv!
________________________________________
From: De'vID <de.vid.jonpin at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 12:44
To: mayql qunenoS
Cc: tlhingan-hol at kli.org
Subject: Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tey'be'

mayql qunenoS:
> there are two word groups I cannot understand, as far as the need for
> their existence is concerned :
>
> 1. the whole group "the son of the brother of the sister's mother of
> the third cousin of my grandmother's second uncle.."

These are the family terms I grew up with:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1HaZ4WLo50 (Chinese family tree)

When I learned English, I was like... why do you just call everyone
"uncle" and "aunt" or "cousin"? Then how do people know how they're
related to you?

--
De'vID

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