On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 1:08 PM qurgh lungqIj <qurgh@wizage.net> wrote:
I agree. {targhHom} is NEVER just a "small targ", that would be {targh mach}. A {targhHom} is a creature like a targ, but less like a targ than a targ normally is. A {DujHom} isn't just a small ship, it's a different kind of ship.
I think the accepted usage of *-Hom *and *-'a'* by some Klingonists is stricter than what's implied by canon. While *-Hom* can connote a different sort of thing from the noun without *-Hom*, this isn't always the case. In some cases, a noun with *-Hom* refers to something that is presumably the same class as the noun without *-Hom*. A *bo'DaghHom* is just a small scoop, for instance, not an entirely different utensil. A *SuSHom* is a less intense *SuS*, rather than some distinct weather phenomenon that's not quite the same as a volume of moving air in the sky. A *naQHom* is just a small stick. In paq'batlh, it's used to translate a derogatory use of "mere":
*veqlargh qa'pu'wI' 'avwI' Dutojta' ghotHom jubbe'*
*Fek'lhr! Guardian of my souls, You have been outwitted By a mere mortal!*
(Book paq'raD, canto 5, lines 4-6, page 109) The mortal in question (Kahless) is still a *ghot*, but Kotar considers him to be a less important or less powerful *ghot*. There's a bit of canon explanation that's somewhat relevant: http://klingonska.org/canon/1999-12-holqed-08-4-b.txt
Qov's suggestion, /QelHom/, consisting of /Qel/ "doctor" plus the diminutive suffix /-Hom/, is also an acceptable form (and is an excellent illustration of the diminutive suffix -- the word means "not quite a doctor" or "lesser doctor" or the like).
Okrand's phrasing here suggests that while *-Hom* can mean "not quite an X", it can *also* mean "lesser X", something that is still an X but in some lesser way. In other words, there's no specific category distinction. *targhHom* could mean "not quite a targ" (some kind of similar, but different, species), but also "lesser targ" (a targ that is in some way lesser than other targs but still nonetheless a targ). Unlike *DujHom*, *Qa'Hom*, and other *-Hom* words with specific dictionary entries, we don't have a specific translation implying one interpretation. It also doesn't help that English has many more words than Klingon, making it easier to provide different glosses for a noun with and without *-Hom*, giving the impression that the two words have some fundamental distinction. Would Klingons conceive of a *QelHom* as being something necessarily distinct from a *Qel*? Or is that simply an artifact of trying to use Klingon terminology to describe the hierarchy of Federation medical personnel, in which "nurse" and "doctor" are distinct concepts, implying different levels of training, authority, and duties? (The fact that the rest of the message is about other translations of "nurse" suggests the latter.) There are clearly some nouns which seem to have idiomatic connotations when used with *-Hom* or *-'a'*, beyond simply the idea of "smaller, less important, or less powerful" described in TKD. The use of *-Hom* in *DujHom* *shuttlecraft* seems to not only imply a smaller size but also the idea of being carried by a larger *Duj*. But I'm not sure these idioms are necessarily generalizable. (I suppose it's also possible that there's no idiom here at all, that *DujHom* is perfectly legitimate for "small ship", and that the gloss "shuttlecraft" is simply an example of the size of a spacefaring *DujHom* rather than also implying the other connotations of the English term "shuttlecraft", such as being carried on a larger ship. *'ach DaHjaj DoSvetlh vItlha'be'.*)