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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/30/2020 2:17 PM, Will Martin
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:581882A6-51AA-4C84-A9A4-1FE06281EC28@mac.com">
<div class="">Everyone has been using the word “wish” to describe
the verb suffix {-jaj}. My understanding has been that it’s more
like a blessing than a wish. It’s one thing to wish someone
success in battle. That’s subtly different from addressing the
person who is about to go to battle and offer the blessing, “May
you be successful in battle!”</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">I can wish I had a sandwich.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">That’s not what I’d use {-jaj} for, though. “May it
be that I get a sandwich!” Really?</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Yes, you wish for the thing that you offer as a
blessing, but offering a blessing is really different from
generic wishing in an important way. It’s more like, “There’s an
entity for which I want something, and I’d like to muster
whatever small influence I have over Fate to improve the odds
that this entity gets what I’m wishing for it."</div>
</blockquote>
<p><b>-jaj</b> forms the Klingon optative mood. It is not about
influencing fate or giving blessings; it is about expressing a
hope for the future with the subtext that you believe the thing
you hope for is somehow right or proper. If you happen to believe
in supernatural powers you might speak to them to get them to act
on your behalf, but that's not what <b>-jaj</b> is about. (<i>God
save the Queen</i> is optative, but it is not addressing God and
is not imperative. Who else but the God you are not addressing is
going to influence God into saving the Queen?)<br>
</p>
<p><b>-jaj</b> is also not just about <i>wanting</i> something. If
you were a hungry prisoner, you wouldn't tell your guard, <b>choje'jaj</b><i>
may you feed me.</i> You would just say <b>choje' vIneH</b><i>
I want you to feed me</i> (or, more simply, <b>HIje'</b> <i>feed
me!)</i> Using <b>-jaj</b> has to express a hope in the face of
possible failure.</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
SuStel
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://trimboli.name">http://trimboli.name</a></pre>
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