tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Mar 13 12:13:48 2007

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Re: Klingon WOTD: ghangwI' (noun)

McArdle ([email protected])



Steven Boozer <[email protected]> wrote:  
> > This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Tuesday, March 13, 2007.
> >
> > Klingon word: ghangwI'
> > Part of Speech: noun
> > Definition: horizon
> > Source: HQ (11:2 p8)

lay'tel SIvten:
>Is this related to {ghang}?
>
>NWL20030704; HQ v12n2p8; v; end prematurely (an event, voyage, battle, play,
>opera, story, song, etc.) [The subject of this verb is the person causing an
>event to prematurely end. The direct object is the event that is ended.]

I don't think so. {ghangwI'} (HQ 11.2) was revealed prior to {ghang} (HQ 
12.2). It's generally accepted that {ghang} derives from the 1970's US 
television series "The Gong Show", many of whose dreadful amateur acts were 
ended prematurely when one of the celebrity judges struck a huge gong. I 
can't think of any relationship between the two, even as a pun. The only 
thing I could think of was something to do with "the hero riding off into 
the sunset" - which is how many westerns traditionally end, though not 
prematurely.

That being said however, I have no idea why {ghangwI'} is a nomen agentis 
from an apparently unknown verb *{ghang}.

Maltz said he knew of no noun meaning "attitude" [...] The attitude of
a plane is its orientation relative to something, such as the {ghangwI'}
"horizon". The attitude of an aircraft is often talked about in terms of
angles. The word for "angle" is {tajvaj}. Klingon {taH} means "be at a
negative angle".

though there is a verb {lol} "be in an attitude (i.e. aircraft)".

Anybody get the joke behind {ghangwI'}?



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons



  This is probably far-fetched, but could M.O. have been playing with the astronomical meaning of the word "terminator" (= "the boundary between the part of a moon or planet that is illuminated and the part that is dark" - Encarta)?  Not that "terminator" and "horizon"are remotely synonymous, but when the sun is on the horizon and you ride off into the sunset, you are in fact heading toward the terminator.  The fact that {ghangwI'} was revealed before {ghang} doesn't necessarily mean it existed first.
   
  On the other hand, this could just be an overly clever excogitation.
   
  mIq'ey
   
   
   
   

 
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