[tlhIngan Hol] expressing "body parts" {'ay'Du'} or {'ay'mey}

[De'vID]

On Fri, 28 Jan 2022 at 14:05, mayqel qunen'oS <mihkoun at gmail.com> wrote:

> Suppose I want to say "reproductive organs of the human body".
>
> Of course, since we don't have a word meaning "organ" as in "organ of the
> human body",
>

Something for the {chabal tetlh}?


> I choose the next best thing I can find which is {'ay'}. So I ask..
>

{porgh 'ay'}?


> {ngaghmeH 'ay'mey} or {ngaghmeH 'ay'Du'}?
>

Leaving aside the question of whether {ngaghmeH 'ay'} says what you want,
for {'ay'} referring to body parts, I'd use {'ay'Du'}.

We don't have any canon examples with {'ay'}, but we know from some other
words that the plural suffix on a noun can change depending on what it's
referring to. For example, {DIr} takes the suffix {-Du'} when still on a
body, but {-mey} otherwise:
https://www.kli.org/tlhIngan-Hol/1998/March/msg00545.html

The plural {latlhpu'} has appeared several times in canon when referring to
people:

{Heghpu'bogh latlhpu' ghuHmoH bey.} (SkyBox 31)
{yIntaH qIrq 'e' vIneH. DaSwIj bIngDaq latlhpu' vItap.} (Star Trek
Constellations p.232)
{latlhpu' law' pIlmoHpu' lutvam} (paq'batlh p.131)

And lastly, there is a non-canon precedent: the plural {'ay'Du'} for body
parts has also been used in the Tribble Song:
http://klingon.wiki/En/YIHBom

-- 
De'vID
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