tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Tue Oct 09 08:44:49 2007
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Re: Klingon WOTD: QongDaq (noun)
>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Monday, October 8, 2007.
>
>Klingon word: QongDaq
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition: bed
Used in canon:
letqu' QongDaq
The bed is very hard. CK
QongDaqDaq Qotbe' tlhInganpu'
Klingons do not lie in bed. TKW
Etymology discussed by Okrand on startrek.klingon (6/18/1997):
{QongDaq} "could be a normal compound noun"--but the important word
there is "could": It could be a compound noun IF both {Qong} and {Daq}
are nouns. We know that {Daq} "place" is a noun; we know that {Qong}
is a verb ("sleep"); we don't know that {Qong} (presumably "sleep" or
"sleeping") is a noun. Maybe it is--but until we see it as a noun in
its own right (that is, in a place in a sentence where nouns occur and
in a construction where it's not attached to {Daq}) will we know for
sure. Until that time, it's a good hypothesis, but not a done deal...
a word like {QongDaq} is evidence that at an earlier stage in the
language, there may have been a noun {Qong} (meaning "sleep" or some-
thing similar). Or maybe there was a verb suffix {-Daq} meaning "place
where one does X". On the other hand, you may have uncovered evidence
that there is currently a noun {Qong}--it just hasn't been attested
anywhere else yet, so we should keep our eyes peeled. But without
further evidence, it's a guess.
Cultural notes:
"Since Klingons are accommodating of foreigners, guest rooms in hotels do
come equipped with a bed but that it's most often made of the same material
as the floor." (CK)
We've seen beds on Klingon warships: TNG "Unification, Pt I" and ENT "The
Augments". When Captain K'Vada showed Picard to his quarters aboard his
Bird-of-Prey, he slapped the hard bed - actually, more like a sleeping
shelf - and said the bed may not be to Picard's liking, sneering that
"Klingons don't pad their bodies". Nonplussed, Picard patted the bed
himself and replied, "Good. I like a firm mattress." (TNG "Unification" Pt. I")
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons