On Sunday, May 22, 2022, Alan Anderson <qunchuy@alcaco.net> wrote:
On Sun, May 22, 2022 at 2:44 PM Ed Bailey <bellerophon.modeler@gmail.com> wrote:
But you were uncomfortable with using {tuQmoH} to mean "cause (someone) to wear," right?
Based on the known meanings of the verb *tuQ* and the suffix *-moH*, and with the example of *qawmoH* as a possible pattern, I was always completely comfortable using *tuQmoH* that way.
If it weren't for the explicit "it always means 'on oneself'" usage note, I would still be comfortable with that usage. After all, we have both the made-from-parts *lo'+laH* *can use (something)* and the atomic *lo'laH* *be valuable*, and we have both *ja'+chuq **confer, tell one another* and *ja'chuq* *succession ritual*. So why not also admit the grammatically justifiable interpretation of "cause (someone) to wear"? The answer turns out to be something like "because it's always the subject doing the wearing." For Klingon, fiat is still a valid way of defining usage.
-- ghunchu'wI'
I suppose the lesson is to tread carefully around idiomatic usage. Klingon has a really high percentage of logically derivable usage, for obvious reasons; otherwise, learning Klingon would be a very different experience! One surprise for me while learning Klingon was that {tuQmoH} is a special case: I remember wondering why "put on" wasn't {tuQchoH} as I would have expected. The unexpected usage of {tuQmoH} made me doubt whether it could also mean "cause to wear," in the absence of a canon example to confirm it. As for the other examples you cite, there can be no confusion between the usages of {ja'chuq} as a noun and as a verb, and adjectival verb {lo'laH} "be valuable" isn't used like {lo'laH} "can use," which requires an object (or at least one implied by context). Anyway, it pays to take note of the idiomatic usage of Klingon, which reminds me I should review it. Do you know of a complete list? I'm not thinking of idioms (like the list at http://klingon.wiki/En/Idioms) but of idiomatic usage, which might include irregular plurals and such. ~mIp'av