[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Santay

[nIqolay Q]

I enjoy when Okrand acknowledges, in a little way now and then, that
there's plenty of room for Klingonaase alongside tlhIngan Hol in the
Klingon Empire.

This reminds me of something I've been wondering about for a while. Eons
ago, Okrand did an interview with a British magazine called Radio Times,
which is mentioned and summarized in this message:
http://klingonska.org/canon/1996-08-rt.txt (He mentions Klingonaase in the
interview, which is why this Word of the Day reminded me of it.) But I
haven't been able to find the actual text of the interview, just Voragh's
summary of it. Does anybody here have the actual text of the interview
floating around, or know where it can be found?




On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 11:07 AM, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu>
wrote:

> Klingon word: Santay
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition: honorific zantai
> Source: qepHom 2014
> _______________________________________________
> I believe these were originally posted to this list by either Lieven or
> De'vID in November 2014:
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> [qepHom 2014]
>
> There exist a handful of honorific titles used by many Klingon fangroups,
> such as the German Khemorex Klinzhai and also the Klingon Assault Group,
> KAG. These five words come from John M. Ford's 1984 novel The Final
> Reflection and are the following, from lowest to highest: tai, sutai,
> vestai, zantai, and epetai. The meaning of these words is based in John
> Ford's Klingonaase language and can roughly be explained as follows: tai is
> a symbol of honor. The syllable zan is another title of respect, but it's
> not clear if those two syllables mean anything else when combined.
>
> Now, at this point, Marc Okrand was asked if there is a Klingon spelling
> known for these titles, since many people use them. He did not say anything
> about the literal meaning, or if there is a relationship between tlhIngan
> Hol and Klingonaase. But he said that there is no problem with using the
> word tay as an honorific title. The word itself means ceremony in the
> Klingon we speak, but there won't be any misunderstanding when somebody says
>
> bIl tay jo'rIj jIH "I am Bill ceremony George". That would make no sense
> at all.
>
> Okrand then confirmed the klingon spelling for those words:
>
> tay
> Sutay
> veStay
> Santay
> 'Iptay
>
> We can now safely use the Klingon honorifics ranks, and should not think
> about any literal meaning or any conflict with the Klingonaase language.
> Maybe these words are merely names for these ranks or they come from an
> unknown dialect of the Klingon empire.
>
> I'll send Maltz' comment in another email.
> _______________________________________________
>
> From Marc Okrand, to the qepHom 2014:
>
> Maltz actually had a bit more to add (though he didn't answer all
> questions). He said he knew something about all of the titles but one.
> Whether his understanding of them is based on what they really mean (or,
> more correctly, historically meant) or are just "folk etymologies"
> (etymologies made up after the fact that "make sense" to speakers but don't
> really have anything to do with where the words come from) is not clear. He
> didn't provide any information on how these titles are used or the like,
> but he said he had heard all of them. In any case, here's what he said:
>
> Sutay was the one honorific he wasn't sure about. He said he'd heard it
> had something to do with readiness or preparedness, as reflected in Su' and
> SuH, alternate forms of an exclamation meaning Ready! or Standing by! But
> he really didn't know.
>
> veStay is related to veS war, warfare, so it's clearly a fitting honorific
> for a Klingon.
>
> Santay, he said, is related to SanID thousand. Maltz said that he heard
> that an older form of this honorific was SanIDtay but over time, it was
> shortened. But he also heard that Santay really comes from the Krotmag
> dialect's pronunciation of SaD, an alternate form for thousand, which
> sounds to most non-Krotmag Klingons more like San (though the final
> consonant is not quite an n). He noted that because of the changes in
> pronunciation, many Klingons aren't aware of the connection to thousand and
> think that the title has something to do with San fate. Maltz said this
> wasn't correct. Despite all of that, he wasn't sure about the significance
> of thousand. He thought it might just be a high number, reflecting a high
> rank, but the fact that the other honorifics have nothing to do with
> numbers casts doubt on his theory.
>
> 'Iptay is related to 'Ip oath (and there's also a verb 'Ip meaning swear,
> vow). One's honor is at stake when making a vow or swearing an oath, so he
> thought this also was a very appropriate honorific.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
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