tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 25 08:02:42 2010

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Letter from Maltz

Lieven Litaer ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol ghojwI']

Merry Christmas, tlhIngan Hol ghojwI'pu'!
or whatever you like to celebrate during this time of the year.

As I promised, here is the complete letter from Marc Okrand of November 
15th, 2010. Read it carefully, there is one more small but important 
word which I have been *hiding*. ;-)

Enjoy,
and have a nice day.

Quvar 'utlh.
http://www.qephom.de

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Lieven --

I showed Maltz the list you sent me after last year's qepHom.  He 
volunteered a little bit, but, in his typical way, he skipped some things.

There was a question about whether {tlhaptIH} was a good way to say 
"tractor beam."  Maltz said he'd never heard that before, but he has 
heard {luHwI' tIH}.

There was another question about whether {loDnI'nal} and {be'nI'nal} 
could be "brother-in-law" and "sister-in-law."  Maltz said he didn't 
think there were specific words for these concepts.  He said to just 
describe the relationship: {loDnI' loDnal} and {be'nI' loDnal} for 
"brother-in-law" and {loDnI' be'nal} and {be'nI' be'nal} for 
"sister-in-law."  He said you could even say things like {be'nal loDnI' 
be'nal} "wife's brother's wife."  But he preferred to call all these 
people {'e'nalpu'} "people who married into the family."

Then there was a question about "pillow."  Someone suggested {QongDaqvaD 
meyrI' tun ghoDlu'bogh}.  Maltz first said, as did you, that Klingons 
don't have pillows and he wondered why anyone would want one.  But he's 
seen them (somewhere) and knows what they are.  So when pushed -- "If 
you have to call it something, what would you call it?" -- he said 
{ngogh tun}.  A {ngogh} is a "block" or "lump" or "brick."  He said he's 
seen humans eating {yuch ngoghmey} and found that strange.  I'm not sure 
what form he'd prefer his {yuch} to be.  While thinking about food, he 
added that the word for "bread" is {tIr ngogh}.

He thought more about it and said maybe another way to say "pillow" was 
{QongDaq buq} "bed pouch," but he said that could also apply to a 
sleeping bag.  Perhaps a sleeping bag is {QongDaq buq'a'} and a pillow 
is {QongDaq buqHom}.  The word {buq} could be "bag, sack, pouch" or even 
"pocket."  When clarity is needed, one could say, for example, {yopwaH 
buq} "pants pouch" or {wep buq} "coat pouch" for "pants pocket" or "coat 
pocket," but when the context is clear, {buq} alone would suffice for 
"pocket."

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.

Finally, someone last year asked for the word for "picture."  At first, 
Maltz wondered why {nagh beQ} wasn't good enough.  But then he thought 
about it some more and said that another word, {mIllogh}, could be used 
for any sort of depiction, including drawings, photographs, cartoons, 
icons on 21st-century computers, and so on.

Have a great qepHom.  See you there next year!

  - Marc

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