tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 14 09:03:24 2005

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Re: Klingon WOTD: tlhegh (noun)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Wednesday, December 14, 2005.
>
>Klingon word:   tlhegh
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition:     line, rope

Never used in a sentence.

Some phrases and compounds:

   The usual term for "proverb" is {vIttlhegh}, literally "truth
   rope" and formed, no doubt, by analogy with {mu'tlhegh} "sentence"
   or, literally, "word rope". (HQ 5.1)

And we have {nugh tlhegh} "society rope"?? (i.e. community mores or 
commonly accepted behavior? in KCD.  (Cp. the "party line" in 
politics.)  In "Star Trek: Klingon!" (the KCD novelization) we read:

     Pok has yet to complete the Second Rite of Ascension.
     In the eyes of the {nugh tlhegh} he is still a boy.

Could the {tlhegh} in question refer to the line of six painstik-wielding 
warriors who form the gauntlet (or "River of Pain") through which a young 
Klingon must pass during his nentay?  I would imagine that important 
members of society or the community are often asked to participate, at 
least in upper class Houses.

Krankor uses {tlhegh} for the three parts of the Klingonist anthem {taHjaj 
wo'}, all sung at the same time in counterpoint.  {tlhegh wa'DIch} is the 
"main verse," {tlhegh cha'DIch} is the "answer back," and {tlhegh wejDIch} 
kind of runs all through.  The lyrics are published in HolQeD 2.3.

{tlhegh} has often been used for an e-mail "thread" on the Mailing List.

Related nouns include {SIrgh} "string, thread, filament" and {mIr} "chain".



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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