tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 22 11:10:18 2004

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Re: {qI'} (was Klingon WOTD: qeD)

QuljIb ([email protected]) 

ghItlhpu' SuSvaj:
> ..."qI'" refers narrowly to the act of signing.
> Placing ones signature on the paper (or data padd as the case may be).
> The first thing I think of when I hear "qI'Ha'" is erasing
> the signature.
>
> If an individual breaks a contract, or a government pulls out of a
> treaty, they don't physically erase the signature on the document.

jangpu' QeS lagh:
> So {qI'} is the physical act of actually *signing* the treaty, rather
> than the more abstract act of becoming affected by a treaty? I had
> leant more towards the second definition, and I'd assumed that the
> actual act of signing would be given by <ghItlh>.

'ej jang ngabwI':
> I thought so, too, until I ran across this word. According to Voragh,
> IIRC, this verb has never been used in canon, and there are some on this
> list (myself included) that believe that the use of "sign (a treaty)" as
> its gloss is meant to indicate that this verb applies to the act of
> signing a document, an autograph, a guest book, *or* a treaty. (So this
> verb could conceivably be used to form the clumsy retrofit
> {qI'pu'ghach} "signature".)
> [..]
> IOW, {maSovchu'be'} }}: )

Hmm..Interpereted *that* way, {qI'} could mean no just signing one's
name, but it could also mean -- among other things:

   Writing a florid monogram
   Affixing a wax seal to a letter
   Pressing your slit thumb against a DNA analyzer
   Dipping your hand in ink and leaving a print

Or anything else one might accept as unique and identifying.

-quljIb

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