Speaking of semantic range… apart from {magh yotlh} “lawn”, {yotlh} was provided for “park (e.g. recreational)” at qepHom 2016 – whence we also learned {ghommeH yotlh} “plaza, courtyard”.

These suggest to me Human (or should I say Klingon?) intervention:  i.e. a managed, cultivated piece of land vs. the open {Hatlh} “country, countryside”.  E.g.

    Sepvetlh latlh DopDaq Hatlh lengtaHvIS qeylIS lutlhej
 tlhInganpu' Hem mI' nIb
On the other side of the land, Kahless traveled the lands with
 an equal number of proud Klingons (PB)

nIteb peghoS, HatlhDaq peleng
to go their separate ways, And travel the lands. (PB)

Beyond the {Sep} “region, country” lies the {Hatlh}.

--Voragh

On Behalf Of Rhona Fenwick

ghItlhpu' Voragh, jatlh:

> Actually qep’a’ 2016 produced something close to one of your desiderata:

> magh              Klingon plant that most closely resembles grass (n)

> magh yotlh     lawn (n)

 > So I would say *{magh tIq yotlh} “field of long grass” for grassland, steppe, prairie,

> etc., though {Hatlh} might be better for open, uncultivated/unmanaged land.

Oh yes, I did know about those (and I'm grateful for your reminder of them!). I suppose I'm more thinking that we have {HuD} and {ngech} for hills and valleys, but for open flat land like a steppe or plain or prairie, I wasn't sure if {yotlh} would be appropriate, since KGT seems to imply that it's a cultivated plot of land:

"The verb {yob} ("harvest") is used to refer to gathering up plants or plant parts, whether from a field ({yotlh}) that has been sown or out in the wild." (KGT p.89)

I've been using {Hatlh} as a stopgap, but it'd be nice to know what the semantic range is on these words.

QeS 'utlh