tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Mar 18 11:38:16 1998

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RE: Sor Hap - Some musings

Voragh:
:>      cha'puj tlhIlHal vISuch vIneH 
:>      I want to visit the dilithium mines. CK 
:> Since it comes from a {tlhIlHal}, Klingons may consider {cha'puj}
:> "dilithium" a mineral, if not {cha'pujqutmey} "dilithium crystals" as
:> well.  
:>      cha'pujqutmey vIje' vIneH 
:>      I want to buy dilithium crystals. PK
:> Hmmm... is {cha'puj} a raw, non-crystalline form?  In KGT, {beqpuj} is
:> identified as an orange-colored mineral.  Makes you wonder what {*puj}
:> might mean.  
:>      let mInDu'Daj; Separmey rur 
:>      Her eyes are hard; they resemble *separ* 
:>      [Her eyes are as hard as *separ*-stones.]  KGT
:> {qut} is "crystal" and in KGT {naghboch} is a given as "gemstone" (a
:> generic term?).  {Separ} seems to be a specific "type of gemstone"

pagh:
: You missed one - {Dom} - radan (crude dilithium crystal) (n). I believe
: this is the unprocessed (or perhaps only crudely processed) {cha'puj}
: you were wondering about.

Thanks.  But since we're speculating on imaginary geology & technology in an
imaginary language, let's be sure we get the details right.  {Dom} is
glossed as "radan (crude dilithium)" - not crystals, at least not yet.
FWIW, {cha'pujqut} "dilithium crystal" was defined on MSN as "Elemental
crystal used in the reaction of matter and antimatter to generate power." So
what is the relation between these three?  Is {Dom} the raw output of the
mine ("dilithium bearing rock" as it were), i.e. what we saw the prisoners
on Rura Penthe gathering?  After some processing is {cha'puj} "dilithium"
extracted from the {Dom}?  

Is {cha'pujqut} "dilithium crystal" a variant form of {cha'puj} or is it the
result of further refinement?  In a TOS episode ("Elaan of Elaas" ?), the
Elaasian princess had a necklace of raw dilithium crystals, which Scotty was
able to make use of in his "wee bairns" to save the ship from a Klingon
attack after all the Enterprise's own Starfleet-issue crystals had been
"burned out".  Elaan said the crystals were common on her world, which
explained the Klingon interest in that star system.  I wonder if the further
refinement is a careful cutting of the raw crystals to precise shapes and
angles, along with an inspection for any crystalline faults, or
"microfractures" as they would probably say in Trek.  I remember Scot was
worried about the irregular shapes of the raw crystals and was hesitant to
send power through them.

Voragh

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