[tlhIngan Hol] {jatlh} vs. {ja'}

[Philip Newton]

On 29 March 2018 at 15:25, nIqolay Q <niqolay0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 9:12 AM, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:
>>
>> In Star Trek III, we get qaja'pu' jonta' neH I told you engines only. The
>> emphasis here is clearly on the information imparted, rather than the saying
>> of it.
>
> I thought the original line was qama'pu' jonta' neH, and ma' originally
> meant "order, command", until it was changed to help cover up the retcon of
> a whole sentence.

I thought {ma'} used to be "say, tell" (hence the translation of "I
told you, engines only") -- and {-pu'} was simply past tense then.

Later the meaning of {ma'} was changed, as you say, and it is now
"accommodate". I've heard a rumour that this particular meaning is
because Marc Okrand accommodated the writers' change in the sentence,
but I haven't been able to confirm that.

Cheers,
Philip
-- 
Philip Newton <philip.newton at gmail.com>