tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Jun 13 07:43:13 2007

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Re: Klingon WOTD: DeghwI' (noun)

Steven Boozer ([email protected])



>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Wednesday, June 13, 2007.
>
>Klingon word:   DeghwI'
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition:     helmsman

Used in canon:

   DeghwI' <He chu'>.  So'wI' yIchu'! ST6 (untranslated)
   [Helmsman... New course! Engage cloaking device. (ST6 novel)]

Discussed by Okrand:

"There are a number of words employed to describe the specific functions 
performed by officers on a ship, but none of these is used as a title. For 
example ... the helmsman is the {DeghwI'}." (KGT 53)

"This expression may be based on {DeghwI'} ('helmsman'). There is no known 
verb {Degh}, but if there were such a word, presumably it would mean 
'steer', and {DeghwI'}, then, would be literally 'one who steers', formed 
from {Degh} plus the suffix {-wI'} ('one who does [something]'). There is a 
related noun {Degh} ('helm'), but since {-wI'} follows only verbs, there 
must have been a verb {Degh} at one time that has fallen out of use, at 
least in the sense of 'steer' ...  in the usual sense of guiding a vessel 
along a set course or defined path" (KGT 149-50)

"In general, {'or} ['operate (an aircraft), pilot'] would not be used to 
refer to the activities of the captain of a spacecraft, or even those of 
its helmsman, but Maltz said it could be used for the controlling of a 
shuttlecraft." (HQ 11.2)

Used in GILGAMESH for "ferryman".

Related nouns:

{chIjwI'} navigator; {'orwI'} pilot.



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons






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