tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Thu Jul 07 14:01:26 2005

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Re: Klingon WOTD: Hov (noun)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



Okrand wrote in TKD (p. 20):
> >   The syllable {'ej} also occurs in {'ejyo'} "Starfleet". There are,
> >   however, no known Klingon words {'ej}, {Do'}, or {yo'} that have
> >   anything to do with Starfleet, starships, the Federation, or space
> >   vehicles of any kind.

lay'tel SIvten:
>Except that {yo'} is given in original TKD as a noun meaning "fleet (of
>ships)", which clearly contradicts the paragraph cited above.

He says it has nothing to do with *space* vehicles.  Presumably he meant 
that {yo'} originally referred to an *ocean-going* fleet and was only later 
applied analogously to spacecraft, which is generally what we've done in 
English.  Kronos does have oceans:

   The Klingon Homeworld {Qo'noS}, usually rendered Kronos in
   Federation Standard, is a planet with basically one very
   large mass of land surrounded by ocean; perhaps continent
   is a comparable concept. (KGT 16)

   After Kahless's brother, Morath, killed their father, Morath
   threw their father's sword into the ocean, saying that if he
   could not have the sword, no one could. (KGT 121)

and ships or boats:

   Maltz pointed out that ... when a banner or sail flaps, the
   correct word to use is {joq} "flap, flutter, wave." (HQ 10.4)

   One type of {letlh} is a {choghvat}, the stairway leading to
   and from the doorway of a ship. In a couple of dialects in the
   Mekro'vak ({meqro'vaq}) region, however, {letlh} refers only
   to the stairway connected to a ship, while {ngep'oS} is any
   other kind of stairway but not one used to enter or exit a
   ship. [KGT 29]

BTW, this implies that the Mekro'vak region borders the sea.  If not, why 
would they have developed their own naval jargon?

[Of course, in Real Life Okrand probably just forgot the word!  <g>]



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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