Compound Nouns

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Compound Nouns, Part 2

We first looked at compound nouns in the previous post. The Klingon Dictionary first mentions them in the following:-

Compound nouns consist of two or three nouns in a row, much like English earthworm (earth plus worm) or password (pass plus word). For example, jolpa' transport room consists of jol transport beam plus pa' room.

The Klingon Dictionary further states:-

Some combinations of two (or more) nouns in a row are so common as to have become everyday words. These are the compound nouns ...

In addition, it is possible to combine nouns in the manner of a compound noun to produce a new construct nouns combined in this way, say N1-N2 (that is, noun #1 followed by noun #2), would be N2 of the N1. For example, nuH weapon and pegh secret combine to form nuH pegh secret of the weapon.

An alternate translation would be N1's N2, in this case, the weapon's secret. As discussed in section 3.3.4, this is the Klingon possessive construction for a noun possessed by another noun.

When the noun-noun construction is used, only the second noun can take syntactic suffixes (Type 5). Both nouns, however, may take suffixes of the other four types.

You've already seen some examples. Now here are some examples of usage.

Dochvam 'oH jaghlI' nuHvam'e'	This is your enemy's weapon
jaghmeyvetlh yuQDaq majaH	We are going to those enemies' planet
reH jup chav vIlopqang	I am always ready to celebrate a friend's achievement
lIy He DalISlaH'a'	Can you adjust the comet's course?
maghwI' Hegh qotlh'a'	Did he deserve a traitor's death?
nuch Hegh bajta'	He had earned a coward's death
nughvam pegh wIghojnIS	We must learn this society's secret
qoH Huch yItlhap	Take the fool's money!
napqu' nov Dup	The alien's strategy is very simple
puq lut ja'	She is telling a child's story
qoH vuD yI'IjQo'	Don't listen to a fool's opinion!

Friday: Examples of usage of the above noun-noun constructions, and a closer look at this compound noun construct.

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