tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Mar 19 11:18:31 1999

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Klingon Prodginy and Brotherhood



This is my father's legacy shining through. Blame him. :-)


Prodginy:

Given the Klingon reverence for their ancestors and the duties passed
from father to son, I'm surpried to find that Klingon have no separate
word for grandchild. Yes, one could say "my son' daughter or my daughter's 
son", but that rapidly gets cumbersome. There is a term - no longer in
use, and seldom used when it was - that elegantly conveys generational
decent: thirdson. Your grandson's son. Somehow this sounds (to me at
least) decidedly Klingon. Thus, *<cha'puqwI'> my secondchild (grandchlid)
and *<wejpuqwI'> my thirdchild (grandchild' child. Using this system a
Klingon can say things akin to "...unto the seventh generation" *<Sochpuq>
and "the seventh son of the seventh son" *<SochpuqloD SochpuqloD>. Klingon
life being brief and violent, however, I would more expect to see
*<wejpuqloDwI' wejpuqloD> "my thirdson's thirdson."


Brotherhood:

"Don't fraternize with the enemy."

Maybe not, but what of your comrads? It occurs to me that Klingons are
very much into what twentieth century America calls "male bonding." A
such, I imagine kinship terminology would reflect that. In addition to
your "blood brother" (ie. your mother's child who is male), there's your
spouse brother, the husband of your spouse's sister, and the father of
your child's spouse; all of whom can come under the title of "brother".
This can also include what WE call half brothers, step-brothers, and
foster brothers. These last two I would call *<tuq loDnI'> "house brother"
to differntiate from my *<'Iw loDni'> "blood brother" (includes hlaf
brother), and my *<tlhogh loDnI'> "marriage brother" (brother by marriage,
in-law).

The clerics of Borath may even call each other *<chIrgh loDnI'> "temple
brother."

This works for sisterhood, too. :-)


quljIb (batlh no'Daj'e' lutmey qambogh!)




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