[tlhIngan Hol] mu' chu' chabal tetlh!
Steven Boozer
sboozer at uchicago.edu
Wed Mar 22 07:15:31 PDT 2017
Here's the full stanza from the paq'batlh:
ghIq QavwI'chaj DuQchu'
qeylIS betleH
chaHDaq SIStaHvIS negh 'Iw
Then Kahless's bat'leth
Pierced the last of them,
Showered with the soldiers' blood.
{chaHDaq SIStaHvIS negh 'Iw} "while the soldiers' blood rained on them"
I'm not sure this supports your idea that *{SISwI'} may mean "rainwater". I think your first instinct was correct: if anything, *{SISwI'} "thing that rains/showers", e.g. a rain cloud (or maybe even a shower or sprinkler head).
I don't remember if anyone has mentioned this, but we also have {SIS yoD} "umbrella" from TalkNow ("rain shield"??). However, lojmIt tI'wI'nuv reported a personal discussion with MO at qepHom 2011:
"Note: the existence of a noun *{SIS} 'rain' is probably limited to this
expression (i.e. it's a fossilised remnant rather than a productive noun)."
--Voragh
On Behalf Of Felix Malmenbeck
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2017 7:19 AM
According to an e-mail by Roger Cheesbro:
> All correct. SISlu', altho grammaticlly correct, he didn't particularly
> like. Someone COULD use it but to me it sounds like they skipped science
> class and don't know what the subject is. You can also give it an object
> and say things like the clouds rained down cats and dogs. ...or something
> like that; you get the idea. But when Marc and I went outside and drops
> of water were falling on us, he looked up and simply said "SIS".
This would indicate that a {SISwI'} would actually be a rain cloud, rather than the rain itself, which would be {bIQ SISlu'bogh}.
However, in paq'batlh (paq'raD, Canto 13, Stanza 6), we have the sentence {chaHDaq SIStaHvIS 'Iw}, indicating that rainwater may indeed be described as {SISwI'}.
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