[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: van bom

[SuStel]

On 3/24/2016 3:30 PM, lojmIttI'wI'nuv wrote:
> I don’t have the source materials with me, but what I show for {ret} and
> {pIq} both cite HolQeD volume 8, number 3, page 3 with the note “follows
> time unit” and “follows time specification” respectively. It may not
> simply be the way you feel, but actually the way it works.

Below is the complete section of the article.


ago / from now

      Klingon has special words to refer to units of time (such as "day" 
and "year") preceding or following the current time. Words of this type 
which are already well-known are:

{Hu'} days ago

{leS} days from now

{ben} years ago

{nem} years from now

      These words are used with numbers to indicate the number of time 
units ago (days ago, years ago) or time units from now (days from now, 
years from now).

      Thus {wa'Hu'} is <yesterday> (one day before now, one day ago), 
{cha'Hu'} is <day before yesterday> (two days before now, two days ago), 
{wejnem} is <three years from now>, and so on. Another pair of words of 
this type refers to months:

{wen} months ago

{waQ} months from now

      Thus, {loSwen} is <four months ago> and {wa'waQ} is <next month> 
(one month from now). As far as is known, there are no other terms 
associated with specific units of time (in the way {Hu'} and {leS} are 
associated with {jaj} <day>).

      For other units of time (seconds, minutes, hours weeks), two more 
general words are used:

{ret} time period ago

{pIq} time period from now

(One might say that these are associated with the word {poH} <period of 
time>.). These words follow the more specific time units. For example, 
<two minutes ago> is {cha' tup ret}, literally "two minute 
time-period-ago." <Two minutes from now> is {cha' tup pIq}. (It is also 
possible, though not necessary, to use the plural suffixes with the time 
units if there is more than one of them: {cha' tupmey ret}, {cha' tupmey 
pIq}.)

      The words {ret} and {pIq} could also be used with days, months, 
and years (e.g., {wej jaj ret} <three days ago>, rather than {wejHu'}), 
but utterances of this type are not particularly common, sound a bit 
archaic, and are usually restricted to rather formal settings.

      With longer time periods, such as a century ({vatlh DIS poH}), 
millennium ({SaD DIS poH}), or a period of 10,000 years ("myriad," 
perhaps) ({netlh DIS poH}), the words {ret} or {pIq} may be used in 
place of {poH}, e.g., {cha' vatlh DIS poH} <two centuries>, but {cha' 
vatlh DIS ret} <two centuries ago>. The phrase {cha' vatlh ben} would 
mean "200 years ago." The choice of construction depends on what is 
being emphasized: in this case, the total number of centuries (two) or 
the total number of years (200).


-- 
SuStel
http://www.trimboli.name/