== WORD REQUEST MESSAGE ==

- be submerged [in] (verb)

Examples of things I'd like to be able to say:

* "When you start the experiment, fully submerge the specimen in acid."

* "Because of the storm, my house was somewhat submerged (in water)."

* "He is afraid of being submerged (in water)."

* "The spy submerged herself (in water) in order to hide."

* "Beware of submerged mines."

You might also distinguish between underwater swimming and surface swimming by saying "swims while submerged" and "swims while not submerged".

Of course, the gloss "be submerged (verb)" is only a suggestion. You might also consider glosses such as "submerge, place underwater (verb)" or "immerse (verb)", or even an 'adjectival' verb such as "be submerged [in] (verb)".

Non-verb alternatives (or supplements) might be a noun such as "area underwater, area below the surface of a liquid (noun)" or even an adverb such as "under-liquidly, taking place while submerged in liquid".

However, I feel verbs are very handy because we have so many different ways to modify them using various affixes and adverbs, allowing us to make distinctions such as "slightly submerged", "almost completely submerged" or "slowly progressing towards fully submerging oneself for the purpose of hiding" with relative ease.

The word would not necessarily have to be limited to liquids; it might also refer to being immersed in a gas (such as air, or an alien atmosphere) or a solid (such as sand or snow), or even a plasma or a vacuum.

Possible workarounds using existing vocabulary might include words such as {Dech}, {vel}, {qat}, {ngaS} and {HaH}. However, after considering these alternatives, I still feel that having a canonical word specifically for complete submersion/immersion would be quite handy:

* {Dech} - This doesn't really cut it, because an island is surrounded by water, but if it is *submerged* in water then it's not much of an island anymore. Likewise, in a desert, you would be surrounded by sand, but you'd best avoid being submerged in it.

* {vel} - This is closer to the intended meaning, but I still don't quite feel it covers the intended meaning. When I've gone for a swim and am coming up on land, I will be covered in water until I've had time to dry. If it is raining, I'll probably remain covered in water until I've found shelter.

* {qat} - This comes quite close to the intended meaning, but I'm not sure it's quite there. A {qatwI'} may be just a thin layer, which I don't really think covers (hehe) the intended meaning of being placed into an environment filled with a substance.

* {ngaS} - This, I feel, comes the closest to encapsulating (hehe) the intended meaning, and is probably what I'd use for most situations given what's currently available. However, I feel it sort of suffers from the same issue as {qat}; a {ngaSwI'} is often just a (relatively) thin layer, rather than an environment.

* {HaH} - This makes sense for some possible uses of the word "submerge(d)", but given the definition "marinade, soak, drench", it seems the focus is quite specific; you're saturating something with liquid, which doesn't feel right for describing, say, a spy who is submerging herself for the purpose of remaining undetected, or designing an underwater weapon, where soaking is usually a design challenge to be overcome.