[tlhIngan Hol] vatlh DIS poH question

[De'vID]

On 9 June 2016 at 10:33, Lieven <levinius at gmx.de> wrote:
> jaj 09.06.2016 ghItlh mayqel qunenoS:
>>
>> We say {vatlh DIS poH} for "century". However {vatlh} is a number
>> forming element, right ?
>>
>> Why ? Whyyyy ? Whyyyyyy ?
>
> Short answer first:
>
> In the game:
> Because that's just how it is.
>
> In real life:
> I guess it's a simple mistake, but...

qatlh qay'? 'ej Qaghpu' qatlh 'e' Dapum? jIyajbe'.

It's like saying that because "-teen" is a number-forming element in
English (in "thir-teen", "four-teen", ..., "nine-teen"), that it's
wrong to have a word "teen-ager".

I don't see this as a problem at all.

The reason {maH}, {vatlh}, {netlh}, {bIp}, and {'uy'} are described in
TKD as "number-forming elements" rather than "numbers" is just to tell
you not to use them in a "bare" form (without a number in front) to
indicate a number. That is, you write {wa'vatlh} for "(one) hundred",
and you can't write just {vath} by itself with that meaning.

That doesn't exclude {vatlh} from appearing as an element in
non-number terms like {vatlh DIS poH}, or, say, *{vatlh QaS} (I'm just
making up this term as an example) to mean "cohort" (in the sense of
the Roman military unit of 100 soldiers led by a centurion).

> This is not explained more detailed in HolQeD 8.3, where the word for
> millenium is following the same pattern, {SaD DIS poH}. The hint of saying
> {cha' vatlh DIS poH} "two centuries" makes me think about the question
> whether this should be translated per definition as cha' [vatlh DIS poH] or
> more literally {cha'-vatlh [DIS poH]} "200 years period."

chay' pIm cha' ghu'meyvam?

-- 
De'vID