tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 14 07:47:10 2005
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Re: Klingon WOTD: Qel (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Monday, November 14, 2005.
>
>Klingon word: Qel
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: doctor, physician
Used in canon:
Qel vISamnIS
I need to find a doctor. CK
Discussed in canon:
Even though Klingon doctors generally have thriving practices
and a doctor is always part of a ship's crew, not only is being
under a doctor's care considered a sign of weakness, but it is
also regarded as a relinquishing of self-control. Klingons tend
to avoid visiting doctors except under the most serious of cir-
cumstances and, as a result, doctors spend a great deal of their
time tending to critically wounded patients and relatively little
time performing routine examinations or practicing preventive med-
icine. The general term for "doctor" or "physician" is {Qel}, but
a "surgeon", a doctor who actually manipulates the internal organs
or bones of the patient and thereby is the most invasive, is a
{HaqwI'}, "one who performs surgery". [KGT 151]
Despite the considerable sophistication of Klingon technology, significant
gaps exist in Klingon medical science, in part due to cultural biases that
injured warriors should be left to die or to carry out the Hegh'bat. (TNG
"Ethics")
Klingons also refer to physicians as "healers" (*{vorwI'}):
Martok suggested a line for a song by Keedera: "Bashir, the healer who
bound the warrior's wounds so that he could fight again." (DSN "By
Inferno's Light")
Genetics researcher Antaak referred to himself and Phlox as "healers"
several times, in addition to "doctor". (ENT "Affliction" & "Divergence")
B'Elanna commented: "They say that the doctor who operates on himself has a
*p'tak* for a patient." (VOY "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy")
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons