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Najahho:
I don't know if this has been mentioned already... but... why is it Vaes Dothrak?

I mean, why doesn't dothrak use a genitive?

ingsve:

--- Quote from: Niqqo on March 27, 2012, 04:04:45 pm ---I don't know if this has been mentioned already... but... why is it Vaes Dothrak?

I mean, why doesn't dothrak use a genitive?

--- End quote ---

Basically it's because it was a name created by George RR Martin in the books before any of the grammar was even created.

My guess is that David would probably explain the discrepancy with some historical reasoning in that the genitive form -i might be a recent development in the language while Vaes Dothrak is probably an archaic form but since it is a proper name the form has not changed. That would be my guess at least but ultimately the reason is that the things GRRM created for the books don't always work 100% consistently so some tweeks are needed when you create a formal grammar.

Najahho:

--- Quote from: ingsve on March 28, 2012, 01:38:33 am ---Basically it's because it was a name created by George RR Martin in the books before any of the grammar was even created.

My guess is that David would probably explain the discrepancy with some historical reasoning in that the genitive form -i might be a recent development in the language while Vaes Dothrak is probably an archaic form but since it is a proper name the form has not changed. That would be my guess at least but ultimately the reason is that the things GRRM created for the books don't always work 100% consistently so some tweeks are needed when you create a formal grammar.

--- End quote ---

Thanks for the answer. You know, I kind of guessed that, but I remember that in the first days of Dothraki I read that it would have something similar to the Russian genitive, now we all know that's the inanimate accusative, but back then there was too little info and I thought something like that would explain the form. I thought maybe he had already addressed the discrepancy in some way, but also know that Martin didn't have a grammar in mind when making the names up.

I wonder if it could be explained as an apposition of "city" and "rider".

ingsve:

--- Quote from: Niqqo on March 28, 2012, 08:36:21 am ---
--- Quote from: ingsve on March 28, 2012, 01:38:33 am ---Basically it's because it was a name created by George RR Martin in the books before any of the grammar was even created.

My guess is that David would probably explain the discrepancy with some historical reasoning in that the genitive form -i might be a recent development in the language while Vaes Dothrak is probably an archaic form but since it is a proper name the form has not changed. That would be my guess at least but ultimately the reason is that the things GRRM created for the books don't always work 100% consistently so some tweeks are needed when you create a formal grammar.

--- End quote ---

Thanks for the answer. You know, I kind of guessed that, but I remember that in the first days of Dothraki I read that it would have something similar to the Russian genitive, now we all know that's the inanimate accusative, but back then there was too little info and I thought something like that would explain the form. I thought maybe he had already addressed the discrepancy in some way, but also know that Martin didn't have a grammar in mind when making the names up.

I wonder if it could be explained as an apposition of "city" and "rider".

--- End quote ---

I doubt it can be seen as an adposition. Having two nouns next to each other already has a meaning so in the strictest sense Vaes Dothrak could be read as "The city is a rider". I think one way to look at it is as a compound phrase or simply as a proper name.

Hrakkar:
As a proper noun, it makes sense, almost as an honorific title. The same thing occurs in Na'vi, where the term Toruk Makto 'Leonopteryx rider' (a term created by James Cameron, before Na'vi was created) is a title, but to describe a someone riding a leonopteryx would by toruk maktoyu where the -yu suffix drives a noun from a verb in the sense of someone doing the verb'ing.

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