tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jul 30 07:37:39 2007
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Re: Klingon WOTD: Qa'Hom (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Saturday, July 28, 2007.
>
>Category: Animals
>
>Klingon word: Qa'Hom
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: type of animal (similar to a {Qa'}, but smaller), titmouse
>
>Additional Notes:
>HolQeD 5:1 p. 20, from the KCD.
e.g. {lIghon Qa'Hom} "Ligonian titmouse" (KCD)
"The translation 'titmouse' is really only an approximation of what this
word means. A {Qa'Hom} is a small animal considered rather
insignificant. The word literally means `little {Qa'}.' A {Qa'} is a
larger, more dangerous animal. A {Qa'Hom} is not a young {Qa'}, but it
does bear a vague resemblance to its namesake." (KCD)
"Another [animal which is particularly noisy at dawn], though not a bird,
is the {Qa'}, specifically the {jajlo' Qa'} ('dawn {Qa'}) ... Maltz
supposed that {po Ha'DIbaH} [literally 'morning animal'] could refer to a
{jajlo' Qa'} as well." (HQ 10.4:5)
As portrayed in the image in the KCD Language Lab, this bears no
resemblance whatever to the small Terran bird called a "titmouse" but looks
more like a small, four-footed rodent with a lot of hair, like a
hedgehog. (Someone probably didn't realize that a titmouse is a bird!) It
sounds like Okrand was aware of the error and tried to explain it away.
Note that the entry on {Qa'Hom} is in the "Curses" section of the
program. The epithet {Qa'Hom} can apparently be applied to someone (or
some animal) that may act like it's a vicious {Qa'} but is, in fact, just a
little, harmless creature, fluffing itself up to make itself look
bigger. Calling someone a {Qa'Hom} obviously implies that he is weak and
unable to defend himself, and thus not worth killing. (This is how Gowron
uses it in the introduction to the KCD Immersion Studies.)
An excellent Terran analogy would be a "paper tiger".
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons