[tlhIngan Hol] pluralizing epithets

SuStel sustel at trimboli.name
Fri Sep 27 09:47:21 PDT 2019


On 9/27/2019 12:42 PM, Will Martin wrote:
> And just to add one more element to the discussion, isn’t {paq’batlh} 
> poetry?
>
> We’ve been specifically told that in poetry, the plural suffixes are 
> not bound by normal rules of grammar. Admittedly, that was in 
> reference to the rare, poetic use of {-mey} on body parts, but in TKD, 
> for either beings capable of language or body parts, using {-mey} 
> always refers to the “scattered all about” meaning, either in poetry 
> or normal speech. There’s no reference to it being intentionally used 
> as an insult in TKD or the Addendum.

We're only told that body parts that use *-mey* to mean /scattered all 
about/ only appear in poetry. The best you can say here is a blanket 
statement that the whole thing is poetry, and who knows what poetic 
license the poet took? (And come to think of it, I think it's supposed 
to be a translation of a translation, not the original poet's exact words.)

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name

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