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

[Steven Boozer]

As Lieven pointed out, {reD} is a non-body part word used for a body part thing:

(qepHom 2021):  "The word {reD} can be used to refer to the (left or right) side of a body, but it is not a body part."

OTOH body part words used for non-body part things occasionally do take {-mey}:

(Lieven, qepHom 2018, 11/22/2018):  I'll get the longer answer later, but basically, Okrand said that "generally" body part words that are used for non-body part things still take the body part suffix, as in {DeSqIv[Du']} on a pot and {Ho'Du'} on a wheel. There are very few exceptions where the meaning or the connection to the body has been lost, so one uses {-mey}, such as {nebmey} on rockets. 

nebDu' 		beaks (anatomy) (qep'a' 2016)
nebmey 	nozzles (on rockets, hoses, etc.) (qep'a' 2016)

Another example:

noqDu' 		nipples (anatomy) (qep'a' 2016)
noqmey 	nipples (on bottles, etc.) (qep'a' 2016)

(De'vID < MO, 1/22/2019):  {nagh DIr} is considered a body part. The plural takes {-Du'}. That's the case whether the shell is still on the animal or not. But if the shell (off the animal) is broken up and a piece or pieces of it are used for something (like turtle shells here on Earth have been used for guitar picks), the plural takes {-mey}.

(Okrand, st.klingon 3/23/1998):  The general plural suffix -mey is not used with body parts (except by poets, of course). Thus {DIrmey} "skins" and {veDDIrmey} "pelts" 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.  [...]  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'}.  

Another example:

Hampong DIr  	scab (n) (qep’a’ 2020)
  - “For the plural, use {–mey}, even if the scab is still attached” (qep’a’ 2020)

Voragh

-----------------------------------Original Message-----------------------------------
From: Lieven L. Litaer
Am 28.01.2022 um 14:04 schrieb mayqel qunen'oS:
> 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", I choose the next best thing I can find which is 
> {'ay'}. So I ask..  {ngaghmeH 'ay'mey} or {ngaghmeH 'ay'Du'}?

I'm sure it is {'ay'mey}, simply because {'ay'} is not a known body part. Some minor confirmation is that Okrand said that the word {reD} also takes the standard suffix, even when referring to the {reD} of a body.