[tlhIngan Hol] qovIj ngavyaw' relative size

[Lieven L. Litaer]

Am 27.11.2019 um 15:05 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
> Suppose you have a full-grown (or is it fully-grown ?), german shepherd.
> Would you characterize it as {qovIj} or a {ngavyaw'} ?

Since these are words for alien animals, as I understand, it would be
hard to really draw the line. In your example, I'd say ngavyaw, because
a big dog is larger than a small one.

> And lets say, you have a {ngavyaw'} puppy..
>
> Would you characterize it, as a {ngavyaw'} or a {qovIj} ?
>
> Or would you play it safe, and say {ngavyaw' ghu} ?

As you wrote yourself, a ngavyaw' puppy is still a ngavyaw', and a qovIj
puppy will be a qovIj.

> If you had a {qovIj} which took steroids and grew the size of a small
> car, how would you say it ?

Since these are words for a specific animal rather than just for the
size, I would still use the small er word for the animal, even if it
grew large.

Compare to Earth animals: if I would say to an alien that "rabbit" is a
small animal, and "cow" is a big animal, one should not call the 2-meter
giant rabbit as a cow.


--
Lieven L. Litaer
aka the "Klingon Teacher from Germany"
http://www.klingonisch.de
http://www.klingonwiki.net/En/NewWordsQepa2019