[tlhIngan Hol] To indicate many millenia ago

[SuStel]

I can understand the hesitancy with using *ben law'.* As a time 
expression, *ben* by itself points to a time, albeit a vague one. But 
it's a noun that indicates a point in time. So what does it mean if you 
have more than one *ben*? What are *benmey*?

Surely we already know the answer to that: *cha' ben* means /two years 
ago,/ so *cha' benmey* also means /two years ago./ Multiple *benmey* 
means exactly the same thing as singular *ben*. So I see no grammatical 
reason why we can't speak of *ben law'*. *wa' ben, cha' ben, ben 
law'*/one year ago, two years ago, many years ago./

As for the original question, I'm not sure I see any significant 
difference between *SaD law' ben* and *SaD ben law'.* I think I'd go for 
the former, since it makes more sense to me to speak of years ago 
counting in the many thousands, rather than having many thousand-years-agos.


On 12/6/2016 11:46 AM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
>
>
> Andre Muller:
> > I might also accept {ben law'} as many years
> > ago, although I'm not sure it works well.
>
> I remember voragh once writing: {ben law'qu'} has been used many times 
> on this list to indicate "once upon a time".
>
> Now, as far as the three possible choices I wrote are concerned, I 
> think that they are all valid with the meaning only slightly changing 
> from one to the other:
>
> {SaD DIS ret law'} = many (thousands of years ago)
>
> {SaD DIS law' ret} = (many thousands of years) ago
>
> {SaD law' DIS ret} = (many thousands) of years ago
>
> If the above analysis is correct, then perhaps this all comes down to 
> personal preference.
>
> qunnoH jan puqloD
> ghoghwIj HablI'vo' vIngeHta'
>
>
> On 6 Dec 2016 6:32 pm, "André Müller" <esperantist at gmail.com 
> <mailto:esperantist at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Don't forget that "years ago" is {ben}, so you can either say:
>     1) {SaD DIS law' ret} = many millennia ago, or
>     2) {SaD law' ben} = many thousand years ago.
>     And these essentially mean the same.
>
>     I might also accept {ben law'} as many years ago, although I'm not
>     sure it works well.
>
>     - André
>
>     2016-12-06 16:01 GMT+01:00 mayqel qunenoS <mihkoun at gmail.com
>     <mailto:mihkoun at gmail.com>>:
>
>         In order to indicate "many millenia ago", which is the correct
>         choice ?
>
>         {SaD DIS ret law'}, {SaD DIS law' ret} or {SaD law' DIS ret} ?
>


-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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