tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Dec 20 06:57:48 2010

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RE: monastery

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



Marc Okrand (via Quvar):
>>>The word for monastery is {ghIn}.  This is a pretty general term for a
>>>religious community (and the term "religious" could be interpreted in
>>>various ways as well), so it can be modified.  A {ghIn'a'} would be a
>>>pretty important monastery, for example.

Excellent.  We can now retire work-arounds such as *{lalDan pa''a'} used by the QInlat Monastery Fan Club and add {ghIn} to our short list of religious structures:  {chIrgh} "temple" and {lat} "shrine".


naHQun:
>> Clarification: does ghIn refer to the community itself, or the place
>> that they live?

QeS:
>The English word "monastery" now only refers to the building, but judging
>solely from Okrand's phrasing - "a pretty general term for a religious
>community" - I'm led to think that {ghIn} might well refer to the community
>itself. If that's the case, maybe *{ghIn qach} "monastery building" would be
>understood to refer specifically to the building, though if a {ghIn} is the

Especially if your interest was architectural.

>community rather than the building, perhaps the home of a {ghIn} is just
>considered a type of {chIrgh} "temple". Indeed, if a {ghIn} is really more
>the community than the building, and if Okrand's note on the term "religious"
>in the gloss offers as much latitude as it seems to, I wonder if, say, the
>Old Order Amish (not a monastery in any usual sense of the word) could be
>considered a {ghIn}.

For "community" in this sense, I would use {nugh} "society":

HQ 4.4:  Note that {nugh} "society" has a much broader meaning: a group of people with a shared culture. Accordingly, {tlhIngan nugh} would mean Klingon society as distinguished from, say, Romulan society, but {tlhIngan yej'an} would probably be The Klingon Society, a group dedicated to the study of Klingons.

 
>FWIW, I'm going to beat Voragh to the punch here and just note briefly
>that the Boreth monastery had particular importance to Klingons, and it was
>mentioned in TNG episode 6x23 "Rightful Heir"; Voragh, I'm guessing you have
>some more in-depth notes on it? Upon seeing the word {ghIn'a'} my first
>thought was of the monastery at Boreth.

I imagine that's what Maltz was referring to. I only have a little on Boreth in my notes: 

Boreth is a planet with a monastery tended by the Guardians of Boreth in the constellation {ghochwI'} "The Tracker", which containing the bright star mentioned in the Kahless myth. In 2369 the clerics of Boreth created a clone of Kahless who, with the support of High Council leader Gowron, was later installed as Kahless II, the ceremonial Emperor of the Klingon people. (TNG "Rightful Heir")

The {bolmaq} is an "animal native to the planet Boreth that makes a bleating sound and tends to run around in circles a lot." (Keith R.A. DeCandido's novel _Klingon Empire: A Burning House_ [glossary vetted by Marc Okrand]).

Note that the clerics call themselves "the Guardians of Boreth" - *{boretlh 'avwI'pu'}?  At one time I used *{loDnI'ghom} for a "brotherhood, fraternity" recalling that Klingon warriors sometimes address each other as "brothers", even those they don't personally know (cf. TNG "Heart of Glory" et al.).  I seem to recall hearing "brethren" used by one of the clerics in the "Rightful Heir" episode.


--
Voragh                          
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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