[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: qatra'

[Steven Boozer]

You’re right.  Checking my notes I see that Okrand always translates qa’ as “spirit” not “soul”.  I guess he doesn’t want to be drawn into religious/occult speculation.  (BTW what is the practical difference between a spirit and a soul or a life force?):

(KGT 117):  Note that the word for spirit, qa', takes the plural suffix –pu', which is used for beings capable of using language. Spirits do speak.

(st.k 7/19/1999):  … the plural of Qun [god, supernatural being] is Qunpu' since they are or were presumably capable of using language, which is what the plural suffix -pu' implies … Qunpu' are distinct from qa'pu' spirits (such as the spirits of the dishonored dead which reside at Gre'thor).

(MO to Lieven, 11/23?/2008):  nIyma' is the Klingon word for phantom or apparition--something that seems to appear, but isn't really there. It's not the same as ghost, which is the spirit of a dead person (and may or may not look like that person, or may not be visible at all), and it's not the same as spirit (or qa'), which is sort of a life force within a person (that escapes when a person dies and may exist somewhere somehow). He said using qa' for ghost was OK, but I got the impression there may be another word as  well (though he didn't offer one).

yab however has been expanded in KGT:

(KGT 88):  Some of the other commonly eaten parts include … QoghIj ("brain"; another word, yab, also means brain as an organ, but in addition it means mind, intellect and is not used in reference to food.

“Gloss” as we use it here refers to a one- or two-word translation – like in the vocabulary lists of The Klingon Dictionary – as opposed to a longer, more detailed definition.  (E.g. soul – that part of a person’s eternal, unique essence which survives after death, etc., etc.)

Strictly speaking, a gloss is a just brief annotation to a text.  According to WikiPedia:

A gloss (from Latin<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language> glossa; from Greek<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language> γλῶσσα (glóssa), meaning "language") is a brief notation, especially a marginal<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marginalia> one or an interlinear<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlinear_gloss> one, of the meaning of a word or wording in a text. It may be in the language of the text, or in the reader's language if that is different. A collection of glosses is a glossary<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary>. A collection of medieval legal glosses, made by glossators<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossators>, is called an apparatus. The compilation of glosses into glossaries was the beginning of lexicography<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexicography>, and the glossaries so compiled were in fact the first dictionaries<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictionary>.
Read the whole article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloss_(annotation)

--Voragh

From: mayqel qunenoS

> qa'             spirit, soul (n)
> yab            mind, intellect (n)

Have we officially received the glosses (soul and intellect) for the respective words ?

I have no idea what a "gloss" is; I hear all the time people using this word, so I thought of using it too, although I don't know what it is.

~ nI'ghma

On Dec 27, 2017 17:13, "Steven Boozer" <sboozer at uchicago.edu<mailto:sboozer at uchicago.edu>> wrote:
Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Klingon word: qatra'
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Katra (vulcan soul)
Source: qepHom 2017
_______________________________________________

Apparently provided for an episode of ST Discovery.  Lieven, do you know which one?

SEE ALSO:
qa'             spirit, soul (n)
yab             mind, intellect (n)

Heghpu'wI'      dead (person) (n)
jatyIn          spiritual possession [by the dead] (n)

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons

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