[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: woj

[Steven Boozer]

Oops...  that's what happens when you look up the English gloss "sterilize" instead of the Klingon entry "{woj"}!  
Here's what I should have posted on {woj}:

(Lieven, 6/23/2019):  You should also know the background story of this word, which was created only by accident based on a line-slip ...  

(KLI WiKi re: {woj}):  An old error from the "official charghwI' list" at the KLI web site.  A list of new vocabulary from Marc Okrand was printed in HQ 1.3:9.  Among these new words were "sterilize" {Say'qu'moH} and, directly after that, "radiation" {woj}.  "Radiation" also appeared as {woj} in the Addendum of TKD.  At some point, someone compiled a relatively complete list of vocabulary; however, in this list, the word "sterilize" was accidentally recorded as {woj}.  Sometime before the publication of KGT Okrand was given a copy of this list.  Up to this point he hadn't kept the Klingon vocabulary in one single list, so a compiled list was quite helpful.  Unfortunately when the vocabulary list for KGT was created, the erroneous definition of "sterilize" was used from the vocabulary list that (the aforementioned someone) compiled.  Thus, according to KGT, the word for "sterilize" is {woj}. 

(ghunchu'wI'):  I always thought {woj} did make a reasonable verb, though -- irradiate or something similar seems okay for sterilize. … [i.e.] killing pathogens, not rendering someone incapable of producing offspring! It's intended as a cleaning or food preservation term.

("Paul"):  Irradiation is one possible way to sterilize things. Some meats are now being irradiated during the packaging process…

(De’vID, 6/23/2019):  I imagine that this is the "in-universe" origin of the homophony of the verb and noun {woj}:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irradiation#Sterilization   

And finally, for those interested, some examples of {Say'moH}:

DaH jIbwIj vISay'nISmoH 
I must wash my hair now. (PK)

yoHbogh matlhbogh je SuvwI' Say'moHchu' may' 'Iw 
The blood of battle washes clean the warrior brave and true. (Anthem)

tIqDu'vam tuHqu' Say'moHchu'jaj bIQtIqvam 
May these waters wash clean these hearts, blackened with shame. (PB)

-----Original Message-----
From: Voragh

Klingon word: woj
Part of speech: verb
Definition: sterilize
_______________________________________________

Published in HQ 1.3:9 and first published in {veS QonoS} 1990 -  the newsletter of Mortas-Te-Kaase, a defunct Klingon fan club -  with other medical vocabulary:

Hergh QaywI'  		pneumatic hypo, hypo-spray (n)
   HerghwI'  		   [short form] (n) 
muvwI'  		suture (n)
   tuj muvwI'  		   thermo-suture (n)
roSHa'moH  		paralyze (v)
yatlh  			be pregnant (v)
'uD Haqtaj  		laser scalpel (n)
   'uD'a'  		   laser (n)

SEE:
Say'  			be clean (v)
Say'moH  		wash (v)
Say'moHwI' tlhagh  	soap (n)

SEE ALSO:
lam 			be dirty (v)
lamHa'choHmoH 	get something cleaned (v)

watlh 			be pure (v)
nIt 			be plain, pure, uncorrupted, unsullied (v)

TREK TRIVIA:
  Fleet Admiral Krell threatened to sterilize (i.e. wipe out) Qu'Vat Colony after Dr Antaak's experiments with Klingon Augments at the genetic research facility there produced a highly contagious and fatal plague. (ENT "Affliction" & "Divergence")

    The original mission of the alien Tan Ru probe was to gather and sterilize soil samples as a prelude to colonization. By 2267 Earth's Nomad probe’s new mission had become to seek out and sterilize imperfect biological infestations (life forms). (TOS "The Changeling")

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
http://lists.kli.org/listinfo.cgi/tlhingan-hol-kli.org