[95134] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ret
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Gaerfindel)
Sat Dec 1 00:05:23 2012
Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2012 00:04:54 -0500
From: Gaerfindel <gaerfindel@hotmail.com>
To: tlhingan-hol@stodi.digitalkingdom.org
In-Reply-To: <ACF6622D959A8842A81E4471BA56A7E001F0C804@xm-mbx-04-prod.ad.uchicago.edu>
Errors-To: tlhingan-hol-bounces@stodi.digitalkingdom.org
ghItlhpu' qurgh. jatlh:
>> Klingon Word of the Day for Friday, November 30, 2012
>>
>> Klingon word: ret
>> Part of speech: noun
>> Definition: time period ago (past)
ghItlhpu' voragh. jatlh:
> ...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 these are not particularly common, sound a bit archaic, and are usually restricted to rather formal settings.
"Sound(ing) a bit archaic" seems just perfect to me if you're composing
a piece that takes place back in the days of Kahless.
> 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).
>
> Related nouns:
>
> ben years ago, years old
> nem years from now
> pIq period of time from now
> poH period of time
>
I think I've used {ben law'} and {ben law'qu'} to mean "many years ago"
and "many, many years ago" respectively.
This isn't a perfect word-for-word rendering, but points to the list
member who recognizes the original quote and where it's from.
{netlh DIS law' ret tIQbe' yuQ'e' tIQ, Sornganpu' HuDnganpu' lungpu'
loDHompu' je toq.}
~quljIb
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