tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat May 03 13:38:06 1997
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: bIreqtal, was: family suffixes
I quoted from the Klingon Database on MSN's ST: Continuum about the Klingon
"Oath of Union" that "...Klingons usually mate for life, and the union --
once a couple is "engaged" -- is solemnized with a sacred traditional oath,
most often in private..."
|> |qaStaHvIS "'Quark' tuq" qaS je.
|> |
|> |qoror
|>
|> bIlugh. Strictly speaking, this was the bIreqtal ("brek'tal ritual"), not
|> the Oath of Union, which may have required a witness. In this case it was
|> Tumek, Grilka's manservant, who presided.
|>
|> -- Voragh
SuSvaj commented:
|HIja'. bong Heghbe'chugh' be' loDnal, loDnalDaj HoHwI' DoQlaH be'. 'ach
|HoHwI' naymeH bIreqtal ta'nIS be'. tlhogh tay le' 'oH.
Not quite. The husband's death *cannot* be an accident and the brek'tal
apparently applies *only* to the widow of a tuq DevwI'. The Klingon
aristocracy (like most others) operates by special rules.
Some more extracts from the official MSN database on marriage & divorce:
Star Trek CONTINUUM: KLINGON COMPENDIUM
(From the KLINGON DATA BASE)
brek'tal
If the leader of a Klingon house is slain in honorable combat, the victor
may be invited to take his place and his wife. The ritual ceremony can be
completed with just a single witness who requires no special status --
even a servant will do. Wearing ceremonial robes, each member of the
couple recites "Go'Eveh lu cha wabeh to va re'Luk," followed by the
witness proclaiming "Ghos ma'lu Kah". Kozak's widow, Grilka, used this
loophole to maintain her late husband's house and property by making Quark
marry her, but D'Ghor later forced Rom to admit Kozak died accidentally,
and thus negated that option. (Reference: The House Of Quark)
Klingon Houses
Much of Klingon society and politics is organized around a familial lord-like
estate and power base, which is led by the male family head and namesake, and
is often based in an ancestral home. Houses may openly contest each other in
battle, and the largest earn a seat on the Klingon High Council. If the head
of a house dies in an accident or other special circumstances and leaves no
male heir, the Council is empowered to grant special dispensation to allow a
widow to head the family, despite her gender. A typically honorable death
would leave an heirless house to fall to whoever's claim petition is approved,
after an unspecified final ritual. The widow may avoid this by performing the
brek'tal ritual to obtain a new husband, soon after her husband's demise
D'Ghor's family and the House of Kozak had been sworn enemies for seven
generations; D'Ghor gradually manipulated its namesake into debts,
devaluations and bad deals until he hoped the house would be claimed by his
and thereby possibly earn him a seat on the Council after Kozak's death.
(Reference: The House Of Quark)
"Go'Eveh lu cha wabeh to va re'Luk": (pronounced "GO-eveh LOO-cha wah-BEH
MO-ka REE-chos") Ritual phrase repeated by each spouse in the house-saving
brek'tal ritual. (The House of Quark)
"Ghos ma'lu Kah": (pronounced "GHOS mah-LOO-kah") Final line of the brek'tal
ritual, spoken by the witness. (The House of Quark)
Divorce, Klingon
The Klingon divorce involves the petitioner striking the defendant spouse, and
reciting the words "N'Gos tlhogh cha!" and then spitting as a closing act.
This ceremony is demonstrated by Grilka, a Klingon woman married to Quark, the
Ferengi proprietor on space station Deep Space Nine. Similar to their marriage
practices, the divorce ceremony requires no further witness nor official to
complete the process. (Reference: The House Of Quark)
"N'Gos tlhogh cha": (pronounced "nuh-GHOS TLOW-chaw") "Our marriage is done"
-- the lone line spoken in a Klingon ritual divorce. (The House of Quark)
Hmmm... this may answer chargwI's suggested *tlhoghtay for "marriage
ceremony" in preference to the "problematic" *naltay. Whereas the Oath of
Union and the bIreqtal are both forms of *tlhoghtay, *naltay may be better
suited for the initial Oath or "mating ritual" itself. Just a thought.
-- Voragh