Well met,
No problem whatsoever, most welcome to barge in my friend.
So, to clarify what we are talking about here. In Neo-Khuzdul you have a form called the “elative”, which is used to indicate a degree of positive comparison. Similar to the comparative and superlative we know in English, but kinda rolled into one. Though unlike the comparative and superlative of English the form can be used for both adjectives and nouns in Neo-Khuzdul.
Now the issue is that the elative (just like the augmentative and ultimative – more on those later) are in fact words that are ancillary homonyms, meaning that they are words that are spelled and pronounced identically YET can mean various things.
Let’s take the root TLKh as an example for instance…
- Augmentative: telkhar =supreme smith* (*artisan, smith-hammer)
- Ultimative: telkhel = smith of all smiths* (*artisans, smith-hammers)
- Elative: ‘utlakh = greater / greatest smith* (*artisan, smith-hammer)
So, in our example above, “Telkhar” can mean “supreme smith”, “supreme artisan” or “supreme smith-hammer”. Augmentative, ultimative and elative forms are all such ancillary forms (grammatical structures in Neo-Khuzdul that do NOT have a single meaning but contain a main meaning and one or more additional meanings).
The main meaning (usually listed first in the dictionary) is the one most commonly used, yet in some cases, the additional meanings are just as relevant or as frequently used.
So, this leads to the issue, “how do I differentiate between these different meanings?” Seeing the various forms are pronounced and written identically.
Well, here context is truly key. Like with all types of homonyms confusion is just around the corner and without context, it is very likely people might misunderstand you.
For instance, if you say “Dwalin ‘uzhar”. It is pretty clear you are not referring to Dwalin as a building, but as a builder. Just by using his name folks should know you are talking about a person and can rule out some of the other possible meanings of this elative. And when you would say “Zaharê ‘uzhar” the reader should have little doubt that “my house” (”zaharê”) is the “greatest building”. So, it all comes down to the context your surround your elative form with, which should clarify the intended meaning to the reader.
Note though that the word uzhar (person agent form, meaning “builder”) and ‘uzhar (elative form – meaning “greatest house or builder”) are NOT identical, as the latter has a glottal stop in the onset (which is both written and pronounced) while the former doesn’t.
In conclusion, if you are using elative, ultimative or augmentative forms in your translations (which earns you extra dwarvish brownie points by the way), mind you use context to clarify which possible meaning may apply.
For more information about these forms; and when to use and when NOT to use them, have a look at the library section, document 20 and 49.
Ever at your service,
The Dwarrow Scholar
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