tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 29 11:20:18 2010
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Re: New words
In July of 2003 I confirmed with Okrand that this word is spelled {ma'veq}. Because I was maintaining the New Words List at the time, the craftsman who built one as a kind of pain therapy (focus on your work, and you don't notice how bad something hurts) based on the description discovered in fiction, he made one in fact. He showed it to Okrand, who was stunned both by the beauty of the craftsmanship and by the realization that he had casually come up with a word to fill out a list of weapon types that he was making up, and now, there is this beautiful object in the world that would not have existed in the world if the word had not come first. With great power comes great responsibility.
The craftsman had Okrand pronounce the word for his computer and forgot to get him to spell it for him, so he sent me the .wave file. It was clearly ma'veq, but at the time I had Okrand's email address because of an interview I did with him earlier.
I treated the address with sufficient reverence (I did NOT want to annoy Okrand) that aside from making arrangements for the interview, this ma'veq confirmation was the only other time I wrote to him. He confirmed the spelling via email.
So, perhaps there is more than one way to spell the word, or perhaps not, but THIS is definitely a correct spelling.
Sent from my iPod
On Dec 27, 2010, at 4:44 PM, Steven Boozer <[email protected]> wrote:
> Felix:
>>>> mevaq = mevak dagger
>
> Voragh:
>>> {mevaq} *m'veQ* dagger (KRAD: A Good Day to Die [DeCandido])
>>> Used in the Mauk-to'Vor death ritual. First seen in DS9 "Sons of
>>> Mogh".
>
> Felix:
>> Interestingly, at the Praxis convention in 1998, Marc Okrand reportedly
>> used the pronunciation {ma'veq}, and according to Hol 'ampaS, "Okrand
>> has confirmed that the new word for the ceremonial knife is {ma'veq}."
>> This is actually how Kurn pronounces it in "Sons of Mogh" (which I
>> believe is the only episode in which this traditional knife's name has
>> been used), although the script (according to ST-minutiae) writes it as
>> "mevak" and gives the pronunciation as "meh-VIK".
>
> I should have searched my notes more thoroughly. I found an alternate spelling and a comment by charghwI' about Praxis 1998 presentation:
>
> {ma'veq} *m'veQ* knife [ceremonial knife used with adanji incense in
> the ritual of Mauk-to'Vor (DS9 "Sons of Mogh"). "The word comes
> from a [.wav] recording of Okrand's pronunciation at an exhibit
> at 1998 Praxis. The exhibitor was told by someone other than
> Okrand that it should be spelled *m'veQ*." (charghwI' 2/99)]
>
> I'll mark {ma'veQ} as the preferred spelling (with your comments) and list {mevaq} as an alternate. We have other variant spellings: e.g. {ghe'tor} vs. {ghe''or} for Gre'thor.
>
>> Just make sure you never mistake this for a meyvaQ...
>
> {meyvaQ} a sex aid [Based on context in the book, this would appear
> to be a "toy" and not a "drug". (KRAD: Enemy Territory) [DeCandido]]
>
> I wonder if Okrand had already come up with {meyvaQ} and this is why he was careful to pronounce {ma'veq} differently at Praxis 1998!
>
> This goes to show that any Klingon dictionary is always a "work in progress".
>
>
>
> --
> Voragh
> Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
>
>
>