tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Dec 09 18:05:22 2000
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RE: Klingon WOTD: betleH bey' (n)
Voragh:
> In the House of SepIch Rite of Ascension chamber seen in KCD, the {quv
> bey'} looks like the {nuH bey'}, except that the former has two bat'leths
> and two d'k tahgs on it, as opposed to the {nuH bey'} - which has one
> bat'leth, one {naQjej}, and a {ghab'etlh} ("one of three weapons
> traditionally displayed on the {nuH bey'}").
De'vID:
: Was the word {ghab'etlh} ever put into writing, or was it only
: spoken? The word that I think you're talking about sounded to
: me like {Qob'etlh}.
Hmm... "danger blade". Well, I suppose any knife or sword could be called
that.
I don't believe it appeared in writing in KCD, and neither version is
listed in "Klingon for the Galactic Traveller", which was published after
the game. {ghab'etlh} could be derived from {ghab} "meat from midsection
of animal":
"Large animals are usually chopped into pieces, sometimes with
attention paid to which piece is which...sometimes not (the {ghab},
for example, is just a chunk of the midsection of an animal,
including any organs that may have remained attached after the
carving)." (KGT p.87)
The {ghab'etlh} - or {ghab 'etlh} - may be a type of gutting knife or
butcher's blade. Though, why this is "traditionally displayed on the {nuH
bey'}" I can't imagine. Perhaps it has another use in Klingon tradition.
Do you recall the scene where the {nuH bey'} is discussed in KCD? What was
displayed thereon?
In some TNG or DS9 episode I recall seeing a pair of nasty looking
double-pointed, curved knives with U-shaped handles mounted on someone's
wall in a {nuH bey'}, which I'm thinking just *might* be the knife in
question. Here's a very rough sketch:
/########################\
|##########################| <-- handle (ret'aq}
| ---------------------- |
| | | |
| | | |
_ ---------------------------------- _
/ \ <-- blade ('etlh)
/ /---------------------------------\ \
| /-----------------------------------\ |
\/ \/
A pair of these - one held in each hand - would certainly make for a
vicious dueling weapon, requiring the fighter to stay close to his or her
opponent for the kill.
: Is there a transcript somewhere of all the spoken Klingon in KCD?
Most of my information on KCD comes from qoror, who apparently is no longer
on this list. S/he was kind enough to take detailed notes when playing the
game and send them to me a couple of years ago when I only had an old, slow
286 IBM AT computer at home. I don't believe I kept the original post
after I added the information item by item into my annotated dictionary,
but I will look through my archives.
: (The novelization only contains a fraction.)
Although I bought a copy of the STAR TREK: KLINGON! game when it was first
published, I didn't have the hardware to run it until only a year or so
ago. I too bought the novelization hoping there would be more information
from the game itself; I would have liked to have seen a glossary of all the
cultural terms introduced in the game but, alas, there wasn't one. Some of
the information was incorporated into KGT, but much was left out.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons