On 9 June 2016 at 10:33, Lieven <levinius@gmx.de> wrote:
jaj 09.06.2016 ghItlh mayqel qunenoS:
We say {vatlh DIS poH} for "century". However {vatlh} is a number forming element, right ?
Why ? Whyyyy ? Whyyyyyy ?
Short answer first:
In the game: Because that's just how it is.
In real life: I guess it's a simple mistake, but...
qatlh qay'? 'ej Qaghpu' qatlh 'e' Dapum? jIyajbe'. It's like saying that because "-teen" is a number-forming element in English (in "thir-teen", "four-teen", ..., "nine-teen"), that it's wrong to have a word "teen-ager". I don't see this as a problem at all. The reason {maH}, {vatlh}, {netlh}, {bIp}, and {'uy'} are described in TKD as "number-forming elements" rather than "numbers" is just to tell you not to use them in a "bare" form (without a number in front) to indicate a number. That is, you write {wa'vatlh} for "(one) hundred", and you can't write just {vath} by itself with that meaning. That doesn't exclude {vatlh} from appearing as an element in non-number terms like {vatlh DIS poH}, or, say, *{vatlh QaS} (I'm just making up this term as an example) to mean "cohort" (in the sense of the Roman military unit of 100 soldiers led by a centurion).
This is not explained more detailed in HolQeD 8.3, where the word for millenium is following the same pattern, {SaD DIS poH}. The hint of saying {cha' vatlh DIS poH} "two centuries" makes me think about the question whether this should be translated per definition as cha' [vatlh DIS poH] or more literally {cha'-vatlh [DIS poH]} "200 years period."
chay' pIm cha' ghu'meyvam? -- De'vID