[tlhIngan Hol] 'ul law' (WAS: Klingon Word of the Day: tlhuD)

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Fri Jun 10 07:59:04 PDT 2016


>>  chIch vay' 'oy'moHmeH 'oy'naQ 'ul law' tlhuD 'oH
>>  Painstiks ... emit a highly-charged shock for the
>>    express purpose of inflicting pain. S32

bI'reng
> I just want to say that I like this canon example. I never would have
> thought of using {'ul law'} for "highly-charged shock".
>
> Which raises a question: does {law'} make {'ul} plural? In other words,
>  does a Klingon interpret this phrase and "many electricities"?  Or can
>  {law'} be used with non-count nouns to mean something like "much" or
>  "a large amount of"?

I think the latter.  I found four more clear examples:

  HoS law'qu' luch law'qu' je lo' Duj nuH pat Hub pat je 
  A huge amount of the ship's power and technology is devoted to its
   weapons grid and defensive systems. SP3

{HoS law'qu'}  "a huge amount of ... power"
{luch law'qu'} "a huge amount of ... technology" ({luch} "equipment, gear"
 
  HoS law'qu' natlhmo' So'wI' 
  Due to the tremendous energy drain of a cloaking device... S33

{HoS law'qu'} "tremendous energy"  

  yuQ SumDaq cha'puj law' Datu' 
  Detect large sums of dilithium on nearby planet. MKE

{cha'puj law'} "large sums of dilithium" - N.B. not *{cha'pujqut law'} "many dilithium crystal(s)"

I also found two more less clear examples:

  cha' choQmey naQ tu'lu' 'ej tep choQ bIngDaq lo' law' bID choQ tu'lu' 
  2 Full Decks and a Half Utility Deck under the Cargo Deck KBoP

  lo' law' lojmIt 
  utility hatch. KBoP

{lo' law'} "many use(s)" or "much use/worth"?  (BTW these are the only examples of the noun {lo'} "use, worth" AFAIK.)


--
Voragh
tlhIngan ghantoH pIn'a'
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons





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