tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Apr 23 07:58:44 2004

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Re: Klingon WOTD: Qom (v)

Steven Boozer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] 

>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Friday, April 23, 2004.
>
>Klingon word:      Qom
>Part of Speech:    verb
>Definition:        be hazardous, perilous, trecherous
>
>Additional Notes:  KGT. (slang).  See also {Qob}.


   The word {Qom} literally means "experience a tremor" or, using an
   old Terran phrase, "experience an earthquake." The word is used
   in its slang sense of "perilous, treacherous" when applied to a
   mission or voyage. For example, {Qom Qu'} (literally, "The mission
   experiences a tremor") means "The mission is perilous." Likewise,
   {Qom He} (literally, "The route experiences a tremor") generally
   means "The route is treacherous," implying that the journey is
   treacherous. The word can also be applied to the state of a
   structure or a vessel following a disastrous encounter, though
   in this case the verb usually takes the perfective suffix {-pu'},
   indicating that the action has been completed. Thus, {Qompu' Duj}
   (literally, "The ship has experienced a tremor") may be used to
   mean "The ship is hazardous, has been left in a hazardous condi-
   tion." The fact that in the Krotmag dialect (see the chapter on
   "The Fiction of Klingon Conformity", under "Pronunciation," pages
   18-23) the word {Qob} ("be dangerous") would be pronounced {Qom}
   is probably not unrelated to the origin of the idiomatic usage
   of {Qom}, though the basic meaning of {Qom} itself certainly
   carries with it the notion of potential danger. Note that despite
   its slang meaning of "be hazardous, treacherous," the way the verb
   is used grammatically is based on its standard, literal sense.
   That is, while it is acceptable to say {He Qob} ("dangerous route"),
   using {Qob} ("be dangerous") adjectivally, it is ungrammatical to
   say {He Qom} for ("perilous route"). The verb {Qom} still means
   "experience a tremor" and must be used in a grammatical structure
   appropriate to that meaning.  [KGT 162-63]

   "Trafficking with the Romulans shows that B'Etor's ... mission will
   be {Qom}." (KGT 162 ill.)



-- 
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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