On 29 March 2018 at 15:25, nIqolay Q <niqolay0@gmail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 9:12 AM, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:
In Star Trek III, we get qaja'pu' jonta' neH I told you engines only. The emphasis here is clearly on the information imparted, rather than the saying of it.
I thought the original line was qama'pu' jonta' neH, and ma' originally meant "order, command", until it was changed to help cover up the retcon of a whole sentence.
I thought {ma'} used to be "say, tell" (hence the translation of "I told you, engines only") -- and {-pu'} was simply past tense then. Later the meaning of {ma'} was changed, as you say, and it is now "accommodate". I've heard a rumour that this particular meaning is because Marc Okrand accommodated the writers' change in the sentence, but I haven't been able to confirm that. Cheers, Philip -- Philip Newton <philip.newton@gmail.com>