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'.)