tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Aug 27 10:11:56 2002
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Re: Klingon WOTD: mum (v)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Tuesday, August 27, 2002.
>
>Klingon word: mum
>Part of Speech: verb
>Definition: taste, sense flavors
Okrand introduced the word on startrek.klingon (7/97):
Another verb, {mum}, means "taste" in the sense of "perceive flavor(s)".
qagh vImum
I taste the gagh ("I perceive the gagh's flavor")
and expanded on this a bit in KGT (p.86):
The verb {mum} ("taste") means "sense flavors". To say {Soj vImum}
("I taste the food") is to say "I perceive a flavor or flavors", not
"I try out the food to see if it is prepared properly." This latter
meaning of "taste" is expressed by the verb {waH}, which can also be
used more generally to mean "try out, test, use experimentally".
Speaking of Klingn tastes (and smells), Okrand has this to say:
The usual Federation Standard translations of the primary tastes
("pungent", "sour", "salty") are a little deceptive. From the Klingon
point of view, it is not accurate to say that a particular food is
sour; rather, it tastes and smells sour. That is, sourness is not an
intrinsic quality of the food; it is a perception, the effect the food
has upon the senses of smell and taste, the Klingon sense of smell
being particularly highly developed. Translations such as "sour-inducing
({Soj wIb}, "sour-inducing food"; {na' Soj}, "The food induces
saltiness") would perhaps be closer to the feeling of the Klingon, but
they are a bit clumsy." (KGT 85-86)
BTW, the verb for "smell, sense odors" is {largh}.
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons