tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Dec 02 12:03:42 2005

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing



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

Re: Klingon WOTD: 'orghenya' (noun)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Friday, December 2, 2005.
>
>Klingon word:   'orghenya'
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition:     Organia
>
>Additional Notes:
>Spelled {'orghen} in KE side of TKD.
>Synonyms: 'orghen

   The syllable {ya'} seems to be used as if it were a suffix meaning
   "place name". Thus, Ligon has sometimes been called {lIghonya'} in
   addition to {lIghon}, Organia is both {'orghenya'} and {'orghen},
   and Cardassia is both {qarDaS} and {qarDaSya'}. The {-ya'} cannot
   be added to all planet names, however. No one ever says {romuluSya'}
   ("Romulus") or {tera'ya'} ("Earth") and certainly not {Qo'noSya'}
   ("Kronos"), the Klingon Homeworld itself.
      For a long time, the two forms of planet names were used with
   roughly equal frequency, with the {-ya'} variants having just a
   slight edge in formal and scholarly contexts, and one might have
   considered {-ya'} to be simply a place-name suffix. More recently,
   however, younger speakers have been favoring the shorter forms
   (that is, those lacking {-ya'}), and this habit seems to be slowly
   spreading to older speakers as well. Though the longer names are
   certainly still heard and are unobjectionable, {-ya'} may, over
   time, fall out of usage altogether. (KGT 142)

'orghenya' rojmab / 'orghen rojmab = Organian Peace Treaty

'orghenya'ngan / 'orghengan = an Organian

   A name for the inhabitant of a planet (and, therefore, the name of
   a race of beings) is formed by adding {ngan} ("inhabitant") to the
   planet name (excluding the number, if any): {lIghonngan} (Ligonian),
   {tera'ngan} (Earther, Terran), {romuluSngan} (Romulan) [...] Occa-
   sionally, and no doubt owing to influence from Federation Standard,
   from which names, as noted, are often taken, an extra syllable,
   {-ya'-}, comes between the planet name and {ngan}. Thus, "Denebian"
   -- that is, an inhabitant of one of the Deneb planets -- is both
   {DenIbngan} and {DenIbya'ngan}. The planet name itself is also heard
   in two forms: {DenIb} (formed from the name Deneb) and {DenIbya'}
   (formed by dropping the {ngan} from {DenIbya'ngan}). (KGT 141-2)



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






Back to archive top level