tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 25 09:42:05 2002

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Re: Klingon WOTD: ghab tun (n)




> > Klingon word:   ghab tun
> > Part of Speech: noun
> > Definition:     meat from midsection of animal, no bones
> >
> > Additional Notes:
> > KGT, p. 27..  (regional).  The same concept would be expressed in most of
>   the Empire, including by speakers of {ta' Hol}, by a longer phrase: {Hom
>   Hutlhbogh ghab}.

Sebastian asks:
>Would this be used to describe meat from the belly section, i.e something
>similar to bacon?

I'm not a butcher, but here are the relevant portions from "Klingon for the 
Galactic Traveller":

     Being hunters by nature and primarily carnivorous, Klingons have
   an extensive vocabulary for different parts of an animal, and the
   terminology Is widespread. The word {ghab}, however, which refers
   to any chunk of the midsection of an animal, has slightly varying
   meanings depending on region. In most of the empire, including the
   First City, {ghab} is rather inclusive: basically, whatever was
   chopped off the animal as a single piece, with or without bones or
   internal organs. In some areas, {ghab} is never applied to a cut
   of meat lacking bones. Instead, the phrase {ghab tun} (perhaps
   translatable as "fillet," though literally, "soft ghab") is
   sometimes heard. The same concept would be expressed in most of the
   Empire, including by speakers of {ta' Hol}, by a longer phrase:
   {Hom Hutlhbogh ghab} ("ghab that lacks bone"). The expression
   {ghab tun} would probably not be used by most.  [KGT 27]


   Large animals are usually chopped into pieces, sometimes with attention
   paid to which piece is which (thus a {tIq} ["heart"] might be served as
   a dish in its own right), 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 87]



-- 
Voragh                            "All the meaning is in the context."
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons           (Ilya Kabakov, Russian artist)



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