tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Jan 17 11:23:30 2003
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Re: KLBC holy
> > Is there a klingon word that would translate as holy or sacred?
Quvar:
>I think there is not. What about {Dun} "be wonderful, great"
>
>Or, to say things like "holy spirit", make it "the big spirit", or "THE
>spirit" {qa''a'}. A god is {Qun}. To say "holy god", or "the Lord", I
>suggest {Qun'a'} "major god".
Careful. This might work for polytheists (worshippers of many gods) or
henotheists (worshippers of one god without denying the existence of other
gods), but not for monotheists (worshippers of one god alone). Okrand
explained {Qun} on startrek.klingon (7/19.1999):
There is a Klingon word that could be translated "god" or "supernatural
being": {Qun}.
In talking of times long ago (pre-Kahless?), Klingons mention these
beings, and there
seem to have been a good number of them (the plural of {Qun} is {Qunpu'}
since they
are or were presumably capable of using language, which is what the
plural suffix
{-pu'} implies). Though too little is known of ancient Klingon theology,
there
doesn't seem to have been a single {Qun} that stood out from the rest.
Indeed, the
{Qunpu'} appear to have acted collectively. {Qunpu'} are distinct from
{qa'pu'}
"spirits" (such as the spirits of the dishonored dead which reside at
Gre'thor).
{Qun'a'} "great god" ({Qun} plus {-'a'}, the augmentative suffix) may or
may not be
an appropriate translation for a single supernatural being in a
monotheistic system,
since the {Qun'a'} would still be one among many.
For example, Zeus would be the {Qun'a'} ruling over all the other {Qunpu'}
on Mt. Olympus in Greek mythology. By the same reasoning, *{joH'a'} -
which many people used for "god" before Maltz told us about {Qun} - implies
the existence of lesser {joHpu'}. If you believe that only one god exists
- i.e. there are no other gods - then just say {Qun}.
In some contexts {Qunna'} might work for "holy god", redundant as that is
(gods are, by definition, holy or sacred beings).
--
Voragh "Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon
- that's
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons hard!" (Montgomery
Scott, STIV)