[tlhIngan Hol] moon ph(r)ases, new adverbial {loQHa'}

[SuStel]

On 5/27/2022 4:28 PM, Will Martin wrote:
> Calling it “Full” is based on its appearance. There’s nothing in its 
> status within the cycle that has a reason to be called “Full”.
>
> Calling it Quarter is based on its status within the cycle. It has 
> nothing to do with its appearance.
>
> Calling it “New” is arbitrary, but you could think of it as the zero 
> point of the cycle, but if it was, then the Full Moon would logically 
> be called the Half Moon, and the fully waned Gibbous would be the 
> Three Quarter Moon.
>
> It’s arbitrary. It may be based on a “deeper understanding of the Moon 
> than its appearance, but it’s still abitrary.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Saying something is arbitrary means there is no reason or pattern to it; 
it's just based on whim or randomness. But these names are not without 
reason or pattern and aren't based on whim or randomness. They were 
named these things for reasons, and the terms have a long linguistic 
development.

What you apparently mean by "arbitrary" is that the names don't conform 
to what you you happen to think would be the most logical system for 
naming the phases of the moon. They're not arbitrary in the same way 
that the silent /gh/ in English /knight/ isn't arbitrary. It's there for 
a reason, whether or not you know or like the reason.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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