tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Feb 07 12:35:39 2000
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Re: Klingon Money
taj'IH:
: Is there a tlhIngan Hol word for "money", "currency" or a specific
: Klingon monetary unit?
: I'm fairly sure I have heard something to that effect quoted in DS9
: (House of Quark?), but did not find it in the various dictionaries
: TKD, KGT etc.
Indeed there is - several, in fact:
{Huch} "money" TKD
Huch 'ar DaneH?
How much money do you want? TKD
Dochvetlh DIlmeH Huch 'ar DaneH?
How much do you want for that? TKD
Huch nobHa'bogh verenganpu''e' yIvoqQo'
Don't trust Ferengi who give back money. TKW
{DeQ} "credit" (monetary unit) TKD
Cf. infra.
{DarSeq} "darsek (Klingon unit of currency)" KGT
"Since there are any number of phrases involving money that could be taken the
wrong way if {Huch} is pronounced {Quch}, many tourists follow the Klingon
practice of using the term {DarSeqmey} ... to refer to money in general. Thus,
'You lack money' would be {DarSeqmey DaHutlh} (literally, 'You lack darseks')."
(KGT p.194)
DarSeqmey DaHutlh
You lack money ("You lack darseks"). KGT
The darsek is apparently a relatively low-value unit and was seen in TNG "First
Born". During the Kot'Baval Festival at the Klingon outpost on Maranga IV,
Worf gave a street vendor a couple of coins for what looked like a bag of dried
{qagh}. Later, Alexander wanted some money from his father to give to a man
who offered to show him Molor's head in a box for five darseks.
veS joH wrote:
> THE ONLY ACTUAL MONETERY UNIT I'VE EVER HEARD OF IN ALL OF STAR TREK IS THE
> FEDERATION CREDIT AND GOLD PRESSED LATINUM. I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS WHAT THE
> KLINGONS USE FOR DAILY TRANSACTIONS THO. i seem to remember a monetary unit
> being mentioned on the "Power Klingon" audio tape however. i don't recall
> what it was.
It was the credit {DeQ}:
wa' DeQ.
One credit. CK
cha'SaD DeQ.
2000 credits. PK
vaghSaD DeQ HInob!
Give me 5,000 credits! PK
Whether "credits" are used among Klingons, or are limited to financial
transactions with off-worlders in the tourist areas is unknown. A good
merchant should be able to handle transactions in a variety of currencies and,
since they seem to be mostly handled via PADDs and computer accounting systems
in the 23rd and 24th centuries, the up-to-the-minute currency conversion could
be automated and fairly transparent to the user.
Latinum was transcribed as {la'tInum} in TKH (the KLI's _The Klingon Hamlet_),
though this is not Okrand's spelling but that of the KSRP. How widely latinum
is used in the Empire, though, is anyone's guess. Is it exclusively a Ferengi
medium of exchange, used especially in border areas? In fact, prior to DS9 had
we even heard of it in the Trek universe?
: The background is that I am setting up part a live action role
: playing game - a Klingon bar, complete with unfriendly service,
: friendly battle, betting and rubble on the floor, as "a restaurant
: must look like a Klingon warrior's home" {{:-)
See the KLI's training MUSH (info and link at www.kli.org). There's a bar
("The
Happy Forehead" {Quch Quch}) as well as a restaurant ("Mom's" {SoSoy Qe},
IIRC), complete with interactive, if somewhat limited, bartenders and waiters
whom you can address in Klingon or in Standard.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons