[tlhIngan Hol] look what the cat dragged in

[Steven Boozer]

veD                       fur (n)
veDDIr                 pelt (skin with fur still attached) (n)

(KGT 58):  Accompanying sleeves (tlhaymey), originally not parts of the tunic [yIvbeH] itself, were generally made of animal pelts (veDDIrmey), skin (DIr) with fur (veD) still attached.

MO, st.klingon 3/23/1998):
    Since number is an optional category in Klingon (the plural suffix may be left off even if the word refers to more than one thing), {DIr} may refer to “a skin” or “skins” or “skin” as a material or substance. Likewise for {veDDIr} “pelt, pelts”.
    So the problem of which plural suffix to use comes up only when one feels the need to be very specific.
    If I understand Maltz correctly, it works like this: The general plural suffix {-mey} is not used with body parts (except by poets, of course). Thus {DIrmey} “skins” and {veDDIrmey} “pelt” are not (or, perhaps better, are no longer) body parts, but rather are materials from which things (clothing or blankets, for example) may be made. They've lost their association with the creatures that originally had them. (This is kind of like the distinction in English between beef, which is eaten, and cattle, which isn't.)
    If there still is that association, that is, if the creatures still have their skin, or if it's a creature that has multiple skins (maybe layers, maybe different kinds of skin on different parts of the body), or if the skin just came off either by natural causes (as with Alan Anderson's snakes) or by the creatures being, well, skinned, then the body-part plural suffix {-Du'} may be used: {DIrDu'}.
    But {DIr} alone, without a suffix, is heard most often.

--
Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

_____________________________________________________________________
From: De'vID

On Thu, 11 Nov 2021 at 14:05, Jeremy Silver wrote:
I also note on the entry for {pob} the translation only says "animal's hair or
fur". Does this differ from {veD} in some way? Like "this is how you describe
the veD on the body of the animal"?

My understanding is that this is just saying that {pob} isn't limited to Klingons (or humanoids). So I think I would phrase your sentence in the other direction: "{veD} is how you would describe the {pob} on the body of the animal".
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