On Mon, Apr 1, 2019 at 9:43 PM qurgh lungqIj <qurgh@wizage.net> wrote:
This is always the case. My statement wasn't that {-Hom} always creates some new, seperate, concept, it's that {-Hom} never means just "small" by itself. There has to be more to it.
There *can* be more to it, and often is, but I don't see anything that suggests there *has* to be more to it. For some nouns, *-Hom* might suggest things besides size, because they're the sort of noun that has a lot of "variables". For example, words referring to living things not only have size, but also maturity as a characteristic distinct from size. In this case, it might be preferable to use *mach* instead of *-Hom* if you mean "small", because there are other aspects of the noun that could be "lessened" that you don't intend to. On the other hand, some nouns are just mundane objects, and size might be the only variation among them. Like these two: A {bo'DaghHom} could be a "serving spoon" instead of a just a small
ladle-like scoop, or it might be a specific Klingon utensil we don't know about get.
It's just translated as "small scoop" in KGT (and *bo'Dagh'a'* is translated as "big scoop"). In this case, it seems clear that *-Hom* just means "small" by itself. Scoops don't really vary in terms of importance or intensity or maturity. They're just scoops.
A {naQHom} is a "twig", not a just "small stick".
A *naQHom* is mentioned in KGT as the small stick you hit an *'In* with. It's just a small stick. A twig would be a *naQHom*, but not all *naQHommey* are twigs. Like I said earlier, I think part of this issue is because it's easier to give different English glosses for words with *-Hom* on the end, giving the impression that there's some underlying conceptual difference. A *DoQmIv* is a basin or container for holding water <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh5vM-jDFRs&feature=youtu.be&t=46s>, and a *DoQmIvHom* is a small basin or container for holding water. But since *DoQmIv* was originally glossed as "sink" and *DoQmIvHom* was glossed as "something like a bucket", we start associating *-Hom* with the differences between a sink and a bucket (not fixed in place, no faucets, no drain), rather than understanding "bucket" as an example of the size of a thing that is a *DoQmIvHom*.