[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ma'veq

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: ma'veq
Part of speech: noun
Definition: ceremonial knife used in the ritual of *Mauk To'Vor*
Source: Praxis'98
_______________________________________________

  Qu'Daj yajchu' ghaH qeylISvaD ma'veq nob 
  [Lukara] understood what had to be done, and gave him the *mevak*. (PB)

  tIqDu'Daj DuQqu'meH qeylIS ma'veq cha' 'etlhmey jop 
  Kahless impaled his hearts with the two blades of the *mevak*. (PB) 

(charghwI’, Feb. 1999):  The word comes from a [.wav] recording of Okrand's pronunciation at an exhibit at 1998 Praxis. The exhibitor was told by someone other than Okrand that it should be spelled *m'veQ*." 

(Felix Malmenbeck, 12/27/2010):  Interestingly, at the Praxis convention in 1998, Marc Okrand reportedly used the pronunciation {ma'veq}, and according to Hol 'ampaS, "Okrand has confirmed that the new word for the ceremonial knife is {ma'veq}." This is actually how Kurn pronounces it in [TNG] "Sons of Mogh" (which I believe is the only episode in which this traditional knife's name has been used), although the script (according to ST-minutiae) writes it as *mevak* and gives the pronunciation as /meh-VIK/.

(lojmIt tI'wI' nuv, 12/29/2010):  In July of 2003 I confirmed with Okrand that this word is spelled {ma'veq}. Because I was maintaining the New Words List at the time, the craftsman who built one as a kind of pain therapy (focus on your work, and you don't notice how bad something hurts) based on the description discovered in fiction, he made one in fact. He showed it to Okrand, who was stunned both by the beauty of the craftsmanship and by the realization that he had casually come up with a word to fill out a list of weapon types that he was making up, and now, there is this beautiful object in the world that would not have existed in the world if the word had not come first. With great power comes great responsibility. The craftsman had Okrand pronounce the word for his computer and forgot to get him to spell it for him, so he sent me the .wave file. It was clearly {ma'veq}, but at the time I had Okrand's email address because of an interview I did with him earlier. I treated the address with sufficient reverence (I did NOT want to annoy Okrand) that aside from making arrangements for the interview, this {ma'veq} confirmation was the only other time I wrote to him. He confirmed the spelling via email. So, perhaps there is more than one way to spell the word, or perhaps not, but THIS is definitely a correct spelling.

SEE:
ma'to'vor  	Mauk-to'Vor (De Candido, KRAD; vetted by Okrand?) 

  "A death ritual that allows one who has lost honor to die well and go to Sto-Vo-Kor by being honorably killed by a House-mate or someone equally close." (De Candido, DI)

SEE ALSO:
Heghbat	ritual suicide (n)  (TNG "Ethics")
HoH'egh 	commit suicide (v)

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons