tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Apr 01 13:21:29 2003
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Re: Klingon WOTD: DIr (n-body)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Monday, March 31, 2003.
>
>Klingon word: DIr
>Part of Speech: body part noun
>Definition: skin
As used in canon:
qul DIr yISop!
Eat the fire skin! (idiom: "Hurry up! Move quickly!") KGT
Duran lung DIr - Durani lizard skins KCD
nagh DIr - shell (of an animal) KGT
no' DIr - ancestor hanging (wall ornament) KCD/KGT
qul DIr - fire skin KGT
veDDIr - pelt (skin with fur still attached) KGT
DIr 'In - drum (percussion instrument with a stretched animal skin) KGT
DIron - bagpipes KGT
"Often the DIr (skin) is still attached when Ha'DIbaH is served, though
sometimes it is removed and prepared as a dish in its own right." (KGT 87f)
"Accompanying sleeves (tlhaymey), originally not parts of the tunic
[yIvbeH] itself, were generally made of animal pelts (veDDIrmey), skin
(DIr) with fur (veD) still attached." (KGT 58)
"Since number is an optional category in Klingon (the plural suffix may be
left off even if the word refers to more than one thing), DIr may refer to
a skin or skins or skin as a material or substance. Likewise for veDDIr
pelt, pelts. So the problem of which plural suffix to use comes up only
when one feels the need to be very specific. If I understand Maltz
correctly, it works like this: The general plural suffix -mey is not used
with body parts (except by poets, of course). Thus DIrmey skins and
veDDIrmey pelts are not (or, perhaps better, are no longer) body parts, but
rather are materials from which things (clothing or blankets, for example)
may be made. They've lost their association with the creatures that
originally had them. (This is kind of like the distinction in English
between beef, which is eaten, and cattle, which isn't.) If there still is
that association, that is, if the creatures still have their skin, or if
it's a creature that has multiple skins (maybe layers, maybe different
kinds of skin on different parts of the body), or if the skin just came off
either by natural causes (as with Alan Anderson's snakes) or by the
creatures being, well, skinned, then the body-part plural suffix -Du' may
be used: DIrDu'. But DIr alone, without a suffix, is heard most often."
(st.klingon 3/23/98)
"A warrior's glove (pogh), also made of skin, had wide band around the
wrist and sharp protrusions at the knuckles. A skin belt (qogh) both held
pants (yopwaH) in place and provided a place from which to hang weapons or
weapon holders. On the toe of each high boot (DaS), likewise made of animal
hide (DIr), was a clawlike spike called a pu'." (KGT 58)
"A third category of Klingon instrument is the SuSDeq, the windbag or
bellows type. A SuSDeq has a flexible bag, usually made of animal skin,
which is alternately filled with and emptied of air." (KGT 75)
"[pe''egh] comes from an old Klingon habit of keeping track of
accomplishments by making small cuts on one's skin, usually on the face, as
a tally." (TKW 135)
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons