[tlhIngan Hol] {Sep}ngan vs {Sep} loD

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Sat Dec 29 07:48:59 PST 2018


On 12/29/2018 10:21 AM, mayqel qunenoS wrote:
> In order to say that someone is a cardassian, we use the suffix 
> {-ngan}, which means inhabitant:
>
> {qarDaS} + {-ngan} = qarDaSngan = inhabitant of cardassia.
>
> The problem though is, that a cardassian, i.e. someone of the 
> cardassian race, isn't just an "inhabitant" of cardassia. He *is* in a 
> way a *part* of his homeworld, i.e. he feels his homeworld being a 
> part of himself.
>
> If he moved to kronos, and stayed there forever, perhaps he would 
> become an inhabitant of kronos, but he wouldn't identify himself as a 
> klingon.
>
> And of course, he wouldn't fight (let alone die) for kronos, something 
> which he would certainly do for cardassia.
>
> So, I can't understand, how in order to say "he is cardassian", it is 
> sufficient to say {qarDaSngan ghaH} i.e. "he's an inhabitant of 
> cardassia".
>
> Why not say instead {qarDaS loD ghaH} i.e. "he is a man of cardassia" 
> ? Or maybe even {qarDaS Segh loD ghaH} i.e. "he is a man of the 
> cardassian race" ? Or {qarDaS mut loD ghaH} i.e. "he is a man of the 
> cardassian species" ?
>
> I just think that being from somewhere, means way more than just that 
> you inhabit this place.

This comes up all the time, and the basic response to it is "Deal with it."

Klingon uses lexicalized *-ngan* words to refer to species names, 
whether they're actually an inhabitant of the named planet. A human is a 
*tera'ngan *even if they've never set foot on Earth in their lives.

One might make sense of this by always considering all non-lexicalized 
*ngan* phrases two words. If I'm a Klingon living in the First City on 
Kronos, I'm a *tlhIngan* who is a *veng wa'DIch ngan* and a *Qo'noS 
ngan* (not a *veng wa'DIchngan* or a *Qo'noSngan*). This is not a 
canonical thing to do.

(On the other hand, are we right to casually suffix *ngan* to 
place-names, without including a space? Take the non-coining of compound 
nouns as single words as a given before considering this.)

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/attachments/20181229/d7c4dffd/attachment.htm>


More information about the tlhIngan-Hol mailing list