[tlhIngan Hol] What does {Du' naH} mean exactly ?

[kechpaja at kechpaja.com]

On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 01:46:33PM +0300, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
>The problem is that thinking in klingon, doesn't always lead to the
>given Ca'Non meaning.
>
>For example, we have the {Say'qu'moH}, which is given as "sterilize".
>But if I thought in klingon, I would understand it to mean, "to make
>very clean", which is quite different from "sterilize".

I realize I'm jumping in late and may be missing earlier context, but in
this particular instance I suspect you're thinking of a different
meaning of "sterilize". The Klingon word {Say'qu'moH} presumably does
*not* mean "to render incapable of reproduction" — in this case, I would
assume that the translation as "sterilize" is meant in the sense of
"remove all (microbial) life", which in a context where microbial life
is perceived as a form of dirt really isn't all that far from "make very
clean". It isn't meant to be an exact drop-in replacement for the
English word, so much as a clue as to what a Klingon would usually say
when an English speaker would use that particular English word.

It's also likely that this particular Klingon word has acquired a more
specific meaning that's not entirely predictable from the sum of its
parts — and if you're going to think in Klingon, that also means taking
those sorts of meanings into account. You can't just assume that every
word means exactly and only what you see in the dictionary, just like
you can't do that in English. 

 - SapIr