[tlhIngan Hol] expressing baby animals (and words for dog)

[Steven Boozer]

Adding some details to Lieven's post:

(HolQeD 10:4 p.4-5):  The {Qa'Hom}, an animal similar to a {Qa'} but smaller, has been confused with a bird by some; Maltz does not know why, especially since it is the {jajlo' Qa'}, not the {Qa'Hom}, that makes a fuss in the morning like the {'uSgheb} does.)

(Lieven, 3/21/2017):  I recently had to translate the text for a children's show where the main characters are a mouse and an elephant. Okrand agreed that the word {Qa'Hom} for mouse is fine, but Maltz was not aware of an elephant like animal, so he suggested I just say {'e'levan}. 
 
(Lieven on http://klingon.wiki/Word/Qa-Hom ):  In a personal message with Lieven L. Litaer of May 2021, Okrand confirmed that as the Klingon CD shows a picture of a hedgehog for the {Qa'Hom}, we should consider that as a fact, that the Klingon animal really is something that looks like that image.

Am 01.12.2021 um 21:15 schrieb SuStel:
> "The translation /titmouse/ is really only an approximation of what 
> this word means.  A *Qa'Hom* is a small animal considered rather 
> insignificant.  The word literally means /little *Qa'.*/ A *Qa'* is a 
> larger, more dangerous animal. A *Qa'Hom* is not a young *Qa',* 
> but it does bear a vague resemblance to its namesake." (KCD)

The epithet {Qa'Hom} can be applied to someone or something that may act like it's a vicious {Qa'} but is just a little, harmless creature, fluffing itself up to make itself look bigger and thus not worth killing.  This is how Gowron uses it in the introduction to the KCD Immersion Studies:  "There is no honor in being a {Qa'Hom}."   Someone once suggested that the Maoist epithet "paper tiger" would be a good equivalent.

My notes say that KCD also refers to a {lIghon Qa'Hom} or "Ligonian titmouse" -- a little alien animal that looks sort of {Qa'Hom}-ey.  (Can someone check this for me?  In all these years I've never been able to run KCD.)  For those who've forgotten, Ligon II was where Tasha Yar fought Lutan's wife Yareena in a duel to the death with spiked glavins in TNG "Code of Honor".  

To further confuse matters {QelIS boqHarmey} (Alice's Adventures) gives us {neSngech}, a "dormouse-like animal".  A dormouse isn't actually a mouse but some of the pictures are certainly mouse-like in appearance, but with furred rather than scaly tails.  (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormouse )

Voragh

-----------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------
From: tlhIngan-Hol On Behalf Of Lieven L. Litaer

De'vID:
> I'm sure both that a {Qa'Hom} is a different species than a {Qa'} and 
> that the word is indeed {Qa'} + {-Hom}. So I don't think {-Hom} makes 
> the name of the young of animals.

Am 01.12.2021 um 21:15 schrieb SuStel::
>> I feel quite certain that Qa'Hom is a lexicalized name. If someone 
>> really did want to talk about a "minor Qa'," whatever that is, they'd 
>> have to explain, "No no, not actually a Qa'Hom, but a minor Qa'."

For the record, it should be mentioned that on the KCD, there was an image of a hedgehog to explain what a {Qa'Hom} is.

A titmouse on the other hand is a bird.

I suppose the producers or the writers mixed this up and thought that a titmouse is a mouse.

After all, Okrand explained in HolQeD (and to me in person) that the {Qa'Hom} is not a bird.

See the image here:
http://klingon.wiki/Word/Qa-Hom