tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 31 09:24:05 2006

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: Klingon WOTD: Doq (verb)

MorphemeAddict ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol taghwI']

In a message dated 10/31/2006 9:24:55 AM Central Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:

>    Doq bIQtIq bIQ
>    The river water is red. (idiom) KGT
> 
> ["The phrase can be traced back to an old drinking song that commemorates 
> the slaying of the tyrant Molor by Kahless. On that day, according to the 
> song, the River Skral ran red; that is, it was filled with the blood of 
> Molor." (KGT 123)]
> 

You've given the literal meaning above, but its idiomatic meaning (given in 
the first half of the paragraph you quoted from above) is that "something 
momentous has happened", perhaps a major victory.  Here is the entire relevant text:

     {Doq bIQtIq bIQ.} ("The river water is red.")
     {Doq bIQtIq.} ("The river is red.")

     This expression, heard in both variants, means that
something momentous has happened, perhaps a major
victory. One might say {romuluS yo' wIjeyta'} ("We've de-
feated the Romulan fleet"; {yo',} "fleet"; {wIjeyta',} "We have
succeeded in defeating it") and then add, to point out the
significance of the occasion, {Doq bIQtIq bIQ} ("The river
water is red"; {Doq,} "be red"; {bIQtIq,} "river"; {bIQ,}
"water"). The phrase can be traced back to an old drink-
ing song that commemorates the slaying of the tyrant
Molor by Kahless. On that day, according to the song, the
River Skral ran red; that is, it was filled with the blood of
Molor. As noted earlier (see the chapter on Argot: Spe-
cialized Vocabulary, under "Visual Arts," pages 78--83), 
the Klingon word {Doq} ("be red"), which occurs in the
song as well as in the idiom, really means much more
than "red." It refers to a rather wide spectrum of colors
ranging from deep red to bright orange and includes
pink. Nearly all Klingon bodily fluids, including blood,
can be described as {Doq}.

lay'tel SIvten

Back to archive top level