[87965] in tlhIngan-Hol
RE: Already
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Fri Apr 30 10:48:08 2010
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "'tlhingan-hol@kli.org'" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:45:36 -0500
In-Reply-To: <EECED3CA-EE46-43A2-91DD-1B3080370428@gmail.com>
Errors-to: tlhingan-hol-bounce@kli.org
Reply-to: tlhingan-hol@kli.org
buswI':
>> I recently tried to express that I did not want to drink coffee since
>> I'd already had coffee, but found no klingon word for "already". How
>> ever, there is {wej} for "not yet", so I thought that {wejHa'} might
>> work. But of course, I can't put a {-Ha'} after an adverb just as if
>> it had been a verb...
>>
>> OTOH, there are some adverbs that are similarly formed, such as
>> {DoHa'} (unfortunately) and the pair {pIj} (frequently) and {pIjHa'}
>> (infrequently).
HQ 4.4: Whether this {-Ha'} can be added to all adverbials is not clear. The notes taken while working with Maltz indicate that he balked at {vajHa'} ("not thus?") but accepted {Do'Ha'} "unfortunately". Information on other adverbials has not yet been uncovered, though it is probably in the notes somewhere.
>> So would {wejHa'} (or {wejbe'}) count as an acceptable neologism? It's
It might, but you can't be sure how it would be understood. In my notes I discovered that someone has already (!) suggested *{wejHa'} for "yet, ever". E.g.:
? wejHa' qa'vIn Datlhuth'a'
Do you ever drink coffee?
? wejHa' qa'vIn Datlhuthpu''a'
Have you ever drank coffee?
>> the kind of construction that might occur as slang, for instance.
>>
>> {wejHa' qavIn vItlhutlhpu'} "I've already had coffee"
>>
>> Or is it a deeper reason to the lack of the word? It is a bit
>> superflous, perhaps {qavIn vitlhutlhpu'} would be more direct, and
>> thus more Klingon? Or, for that matter, {qen qavIn vItlhutlhpu'} (I
>> have recently had coffee) would be more precise?
We have one example of Okrand translating "already":
bIHeghvIpchugh bIHeghpu'.
If you are afraid to die, you have already died. (TKW)
Since the lack of a word for "already" didn't bother Okrand, I would just say:
qa'vIn vItlhutlhpu'. latlh vIneHbe'.
I have [already] drank coffee. I don't want another (one).
On the other hand, I do. Time for my coffee break!
--
Voragh
Canon Master of the Klingons
