[139] in tlhIngan-Hol
comparative/superlative adverbs?
dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (dcctdw@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sun Feb 16 19:17:14 1992
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: mosquito@Athena.MIT.EDU
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 92 12:54:36 -0500
One of the "useful phrases" in the dictionary is "revenge is a dish best served
cold." It comes out "bortaS bIr jablu'DI'reH QaQqu'nay'". After scratching
my head for a while, the best literal translation I could get was:
"As soon as cold revenge is always served, the dish is very good." (that is,
assuming -reH means "always" as a verb suffix). Stretching it, I can make
it closer to the English: "Revenge: a dish, very good, cold as soon as it
is always served." And that assumes appositive structure not even mentioned
in Okrand's dictionary. To make it closer to the translation, I would say:
bortaS'e' nay' QaQ law' Hoch QaQ puS bIr jablu'DI'.
meaning "Concerning revenge, the dish is best of all when is is served cold."
Now, that's not the same thing. It means "Revenge is better than any dish
when it is served cold." The English means "Revenge is better as a dish
served cold than as a dish served warm." To express this, I'd need to say:
bortaS'e' nay' bIr jablu' law' nay' bIrbe' jablu' puS.
which stretches the limits to what might be done with the law'-puS construct.
Comments?
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--OO--
!! mosquito@athena.mit.edu
Kevin Iga
