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

[De'vID]

On Sun, 29 May 2022 at 03:58, SuStel <sustel at trimboli.name> wrote:

> Then the "crescent moon" is named for its shape (but whether it's a
> "sickle" [Sichel in German] or an "eyebrow" [眉 in Chinese] or something
> else is arbitrary).
>
> The word *crescent* being used here isn't arbitrary. It comes from Latin *luna
> crescens,* where it meant "waxing moon." The Latin word that became
> *crescent* originally meant to get bigger (compare *crescendo*), to wax.
> Linking the word *crescent* to a shape came later because it was being
> used of the moon. So the term *crescent moon* doesn't come from its
> shape; the name of the shape comes from the waxing moon.
>
Whether the shape is named after this lunar phase or the lunar phase is
named after a thing with that shape (sickle, eyebrow) in a given language,
my point here was that this lunar phase was the next to be named, after the
"new" and "full" moons.


> All of these terms have histories and reasons for being the way they are.
> Having diverse sources isn't arbitrariness.
>

I think you on the one side and chargwI' and ghunchu'wI' on the other side
are arguing two different things. The reason for the name of each lunar
phase isn't arbitrary and is based on its historical development. What they
seem to be saying is that the switch from using appearance to using the
fraction through the cycle for some phases, or how that fraction is
defined, is arbitrary. Some languages use appearance where English uses the
cycle fraction (e.g., German "Halbmond") or define the cycle differently
(e.g., German "erstes Viertel" isn't the same phase as the English "first
quarter"). There's no particular reason that English uses "first-" and
"third-quarter" instead of "waxing" and "waning half moon", or applies the
label "first quarter" to appearance of the moon at the end of the quarter
rather than the middle, and if history had been reversed and run forward
again, English could've easily gone with the German way of doing it and
vice versa. In contrast, I think that isn't true of the terms "new" and
"full" moon, which would probably remain the same, or "crescent" moon,
which would use a word associated with that shape (whether the word comes
from the shape or the other way around).

In any case, the Klingon descriptions do not all seem as precise as the
English names. {maS So’lu’chu’bogh} "new moon" and {maS’e’ So’bogh pagh}
"full moon" seem to indicate exact points in the lunar cycle, but {maS’e’
loQ So’be’bogh QIb} / {maS['e'] loQHa’ So’lu’bogh} "crescent moon" (“moon
that a shadow doesn’t slightly hide" / "moon that is
considerably/appreciably hidden") and {maS['e'] loQ So’lu’bogh} "mostly
full moon" (“moon that is slightly hidden”) could just as well refer to
anything in a range that fits those descriptions. And we didn't get any
information on what Klingons would call the half-illuminated moon.

I wonder if you could write {maS'e' bID So'lu'bogh} (or {maS'e' bID
So'lu'be'bogh})?

-- 
De'vID
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