tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jan 22 07:28:11 2007
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Re: Klingon WOTD: pel'aQ (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Sunday, January 21, 2007.
>
>Category: Body Parts
Is it really? If the plural of {QIm} "egg" is {QImmey} (KGT p.88), I would
expect the plural of {pel'aQ} to be ?{pel'aQmey} even though it's never
been attested. OTOH KGT p.92 says that the shell of an animal is {nagh
DIr} and I would expect the plural ?{nagh DIrDu'} as this definitely is a
body part.
>Klingon word: pel'aQ
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: shell (of an egg)
>
>Additional Notes:
>KGT p. 88. Curiously, eggs ({QImmey}) do not play a large role in the
>Klingon diet as food items in their own right, though they are mixed into
>many sauces, usually along with the pieces of shell ({pel'aQ}), for flavor
>and texture. The small eggs of the Tokvirian [sic] skink ({toqvIr lung}),
>however, are often eaten whole, shell and all, usually by the handfull.
>
>KGT p. 92. The shell of an animal ({nagh DIr}--literally, "rock
>skin"--not to be confused with {yub} ["husk, rind, peel"], the word
>applied to the shell of a nut, or {pel'aQ} ["eggshell"]) is commonly
>separated from the animal meat, fermented, and served at another time.
Used in canon:
IDIOM: {pel'aQDaj ghorpa'} "before it breaks its shell" (i.e. "before it's
too late" or "while there's still time"):
pel'aQDaj ghorpa' qama' yIHoH
Before it breaks its shell, kill the prisoner
(i.e. "Kill the prisoner now, while you've got a chance") KGT
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons