[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Santay

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: Santay
Part of speech: noun
Definition: honorific zantai
Source: qepHom 2014
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I believe these were originally posted to this list by either Lieven or De'vID in November 2014:

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[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.
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>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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