tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Apr 24 07:30:21 2008
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Re: Klingon WOTD: tonSaw' (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Thursday, April 24, 2008.
>
>Klingon word: tonSaw'
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: fighting technique
Also glossed as "Klingon fighting" in TKD.
Never used in canon.
AFAIK we don't know if this is a general term for (hand-to-hand?) fighting
if it is a specific form, like the ritualized Mok'bara {moQbara'}. Chet
Brown (a.k.a. HetaQ DoqwI'} apparently considered it the equivalent of
"martal arts" and entitled his bat'leth training manual _{tonSaw' peghmey}:
Secret Fighting Arts of the Warrior Race_. (Only volume 1 {betleH yIqel}
was ever published; cf.
<http://www.wle.com/products/b400.html>http://www.wle.com/products/b400.html
for more information).
Miscellaneous notes on Klingon martial arts and hand-to-hand combat:
TKW 85: Though Klingons have a vast array of power weapons, the purest
form of combat is hand-to-hand. Fighting in such close proximity to one
another, a beard may be thought of by some as a disadvantage since one of
the combatants may grab onto the beard of the other and draw him closer. To
wear a beard, and long hair for that matter, shows that one is both brave
and confident--willing to give the opponent the upper hand, and secure that
one's own skills are superior.
KGT 35: It should be pointed out that the vocabulary associated with
rituals, martial arts [...] though some of it may be genuinely archaic, is
not considered {mu'mey Doy'} ("tired words").
KGT 72: Traditional Klingon music is generally performed only by those who
have had a great deal of training. The study of this type of music, whether
composition or performance, is considered a discipline not unlike a martial
art.
KGT 207: the Klingon verb {mI'} may be translated "dance", but it also
means "exercise, do calisthenics, do martial arts movements".
HQ 10.2:8: The "finger verbs" are used when talking about specific ways of
using a particular device [...] or when describing specific ways to use
fingers (as in movements in some martial arts).
HQ 10.2:11: The verbs {nan} "use the fourth toe" and {nan} "gouge" are
probably etymologically related, since {nan} is used to refer to a
particularly effective martial arts kick.
HQ 10.2:11: {jaghwI'Daq jIHom} "I use (my) second toe at my enemy" (idiom:
"I claim my enemy is unworthy or weak") - The gesture itself is most likely
to come up during ritualized martial arts combat (which, incidentally, is
often a part of Klingon ballet).
HQ 11.2: The verb {lol} ["be in a stance/pose"] is also used frequently
when talking about martial arts. In fact, there is a noun {lol} that refers
to a specific position in the martial arts form Mok'bara [...] {DuHIvmeH
SuvwI' lol ghaH} "the warrior is in a stance to attack you".
Worf taught classes in {moQbara'} aboard the Enterprise-D (TNG "Birthright
II" et al.; cf. ill. TKW 198)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons