tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 30 08:45:29 1999
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Re: qul tuq
: [Voragh] wrote:
: > Well, if Okrand's statement in the KCD Language Lab that "{tuq} means
: > Family-house not structure-house" - which seems pretty clear to me that
: > {tuq} is a social grouping like {qorDu'} "family" - isn't enough for you,
: > how about:
:
: Just a little comment to avoid misunderstanings:
: This is not how Marc Okrand said it literally! It was just my way of
: saying it.
Thanks. Do you have his exact words? I've never watched the CD (I don't
have the hardware to run it), so I have no way of checking this for myself.
I'd like to correct my notes, should this question ever come up again.
: muHwI', valer tuqvo'.
"MuHwI' of the House of Valer" is just {muHwI' valer tuq}, which is just an
extension of the "X son/daughter of Y" formula: e.g. Worf, son of Mogh
{wo'rIv mogh puqloD}, Worf, House of Mogh {wo'rIv mogh tuq}, etc. - though
I suppose I should say House of Martok {martaq tuq} these days. Okrand
discussed how Klingons refer to their House {tuq} in some detail on the
Expert Forum (September 1997):
According to Maltz, there are at least a couple of ways to identify
a Klingon's house (or {tuq}) ... To say "Kahlor of the House of Molor"
(or, if you prefer, "Kahlor from the House of Molor"), you'd say simply
"Kahlor, House of Molor" {qeylor molor tuq}. If you want to be even
more formal, the name of the father may be used as well... "Kahlor,
son of Kahlin, of the House of Molor" is "Kahlor, son of Kahlin, House
of Molor" {qeylor qeylIn puqloD molor tuq}. The other way is actually
more formal and a bit formulaic. To say "Kahlor is of the House of
Molor" (or "Kahlor is from the House of Molor"), you could say {tay'
qeylor molor tuq je}. This is literally "Kahlor and the House of Molor
are together." The construction is no doubt based on the Klingon proverb
"One is always of his tribe" (literally, "a person and his house are
always together"): {reH tay' ghot tuqDaj je}. If Kahlor is speaking, he
could say, "I am of the House of Molor" {matay' jIH molor tuq je}. Or
if one were speaking to Kahlor, one could say, "You are of the House of
Molor" {Sutay' SoH molor tuq je}. Literally, these are "The House of
Molor and I are together" [and] "The House of Molor and you are together."
The independent pronouns ({jIH} "I" and {SoH} "you" in the examples above)
are always used in this construction.
BTW, don't use {-vo'} or {Daq} in this manner; they seem to be used only in
a purely spatial or physical sense in Klingon, not all-purpose as the
prepositions "from" and "in/to" are used in English (and German IIRC). If
you remember this question from PK, you'll always use them correctly:
naDevvo' vaS'a'Daq majaHlaH'a'?
Can we get to the Great Hall from here?
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons