tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Sep 08 01:28:32 2004

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: klin zha

Alan Anderson ([email protected]) [KLI Member] [Hol po'wI']

ja' [email protected]:
>I am reading a tos novel and ran across a klingon word can any one tell me
>is there a literal translation of klin zha?

The term "klin zha" comes from John Ford's novel _The Final Reflection_.
It's actually set in a time prior to the original series, though it uses
Kirk's Enterprise as "bookends" around the story.  Klin zha is a board game
with similarities to a combination of chess and capture-the-flag, but in
that novel it's also used on many levels as a metaphor for life.

The language spoken by Klingons in Ford's work is called Klingonaase.  In
that language, "klin" is something like the core value of what makes one a
worthy person.  A reasonably literal translation of it might be a cross
between {batlh} "honor" and {ghob} "ethics".  (Perhaps some interpretations
of "jihad" could also fit.)  The word "zha" simply means "game", though
there is perhaps a connotation of a simulation of an aspect of the world
that's been distilled to its essense.

So a literal translation of "klin zha" might be "the game of honor-ethics".

The game itself is described somewhat sketchily in the book.  Fans of
Ford's version of Klindom extrapolated a playable set of rules, and it's
now a popular real-world game.  The Authorized Klin Zha Homepage
<http://www.tasigh.org/takzh/> has details.



In {tlhIngan Hol}, I think most people transliterate it as {tlhInSa},
though I myself prefer {tlhInja}.

-- ghunchu'wI'

Back to archive top level