[tlhIngan Hol] differentiating between fruit and vegetable

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Fri Feb 5 13:18:37 PST 2021


Another option for fruit might be {tun} "be soft", which we've seen modify other class nouns:

ghab tun 		boneless meat from midsection of animal (regional)
HomHap tun 		cartilage
ngogh tun 		pillow 
QongDaq ‘echlet tun 	mattress
‘atlhqam tun 		a type of mold

Oddly enough, when {naH} was appended to the names of Terran foods in "Talk Now! Klingon", they all referred to fruit, not vegetables:

banan naH 		banana
mengho' naH 		mango 
pIlam naH 		plum 
ghIrep naHmey 		grapes 
per naHmey 		pears 
raSber naHmey 		raspberries 
Sutra'ber naHmey 	strawberries 
tomat naHmey 		tomatoes [technically a fruit]
'epIl naHmey 		apples 

Did I miss one?  (Maybe the intended customers for TNK weren't known for eating their veggies!)

Klingon do have fruits, but they're known by specific names.  E.g.

'IventoH  		pineapple-like fruit
'epIn  			peach[-like fruit]
peb'ot 			torpedo-shaped fruit 
na'ran  			type of [sweet] fruit

Okrand always translates {naH} as "fruit or vegetable".  I imagine he's making the culturally-relative point that Klingons simply don't think about sub-classes of {naH} like we do.  Being primarily carnivores who moreover prefer their food uncooked, Klingons don't really eat much {naH} and thus don't particularly think much about it -- unless you're a cook.
 
(KGT 85):  The Klingon diet consists primarily of animal matter. With a few notable exceptions, plants seldom form the bases of dishes in their own right, though they are used quite a bit in food preparation, particularly as seasoning.

(KGT 89):  Any part of any plant that is eaten may be termed {naH}, usually translated fruit or vegetable. [...] The outer covering of a fruit or vegetable ({yub} "husk, rind, peel") is always consumed, except in the case of the {naHlet yub} (nut shell)
 
(charghwI' [date?]):   I have come to accept that if you eat it, it is {naH}.  If it is a plant and you don't eat it, it is {tI}. Perhaps tI includes {naH} as a subset.  

{San'emDer} "plant" was revealed at qep'a' 2019, long after he wrote that, but charghwI's conclusion is still valid.

__
Voragh

-----------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------
From: Lieven L. Litaer

Am 02.02.2021 um 15:17 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
> Since we have just one word for both "fruit" *and* "vegetable", how in 
> the glorious name of qeylIS the unforgettable are we supposed to say 
> "the alien loves fruits, but hates vegetables"?

That's really agood question, and maybe there is even a word for this.
But until we find out, I would simply make te difference by describing the 
fruit using adjectives, as in  {naH tIv nov, 'ach naH wIb par}

Of course that's not clear, since not all naH wIb are vegetables.




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