Qapla' and well met, everyone!
I am currently researching for a paper on the topic of crusade and crusading in Sci-Fi and Fantasy and come to you in search of wisdom.
T'Kuvma is an unusual character of his own, but he takes his religiousness truly to another level. He picks up a theme not commonly heard of in Star Trek when he describes (ST:DSC, S01, Ep01: "The Vulcan Hello") the fallen Torchbearer as "machoq'eghmeH maghobtaHvIS HeghwI' wa'DIch ghaH." ("first to die in our crusade for self-preservation").
Hence my question: Which is the word translated as "crusade" here, and what root word does it derive from? I doubt it has anything to do with crosses – what is the Klingon idea behind holy wars?
(I was going to say "qatlho' in advance", but that does not sound like the True Klingon Way…)
Interesting topic — I think the root word for crusade here is "ghob", which means "battle".
ma- is the prenominal prefix for "we".
choq'egh must be self-preservation. (choq = preserve, -'egh means to oneself)
-meH is "for [the purpose of]"
ghob is "battle".
-taH is the suffix for an ongoing/continuing action.
-vIS is "while".
Hegh is death.
-wI' is the suffix for "one that does", so HeghwI' is the one that dies.
wa'Dich means first.
ghaH means he/she/it.
(Best guess, anyway.)
So „maghobtaHvIS" would be "our ongoing battle"? Interesting, seeing as it entirely lacks the religious connotation of "crusade". Ironically, the translation would have been much more fitting for a religious fanatic like T'Kuvma.
(And thanks, of course!)
{maghobtaHvIS} means "While we battle", it doesn't mean "our ongoing battle".
Hegh is "to die", actually, it's a verb. That was a typo.