[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: jav

[Steven Boozer]

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Klingon Word of the Day for Monday, November 09, 2020
Klingon word: 	jav
Part of speech: 	noun
Definition: 	sixth tone of nonatonic musical scale

Klingon Word of the Day for Saturday, November 07, 2020
Klingon word: 	jav
Part of speech:	noun
Definition: 	prisoner (slang)
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{KGT 72-73):   Older Klingon music was based on a nonatonic scale--that is, one made up of nine tones. Each tone has a specific name, comparable to the "do, re, mi" system used in describing music on Earth. The nine tone names are (the first and ninth, as with Earth's "do," being the same): {yu, bIm, 'egh, loS, vagh, jav, Soch, chorgh, yu}. While the first three (and ninth) of these words apparently are used only for singing the scale, the remaining five are also numerals: {loS}, "four"; {vagh}, "five"; {jav}, "six"; {Soch}, "seven"; {chorgh}, "eight."  It is possible that, at some time in the past, the numerals were "borrowed" into the lexicon of music in order to sing the scale but, for some reason, the first three (presumably {wa', cha', wej} ["one, two, three"]) were either changed or never used. It is far more likely, however, that the borrowing went in the other direction. As is well documented, the Klingon counting system was originally a ternary system (one based on three, with numbers higher than three formed from the words for "one," "two," and "three"). Later, owing to outside influences, it changed to a decimal system (based on ten). The independent words for the numbers three through nine were not originally a part of the Klingon counting system, but they had to come from somewhere. The musical scale is the likely source. The word for the fourth musical tone, loS, began to be used for the number four, and so on through the eighth tone, {chorgh}. (The origins of the words {Hut} ["nine"] and the suffix {-maH}, used in the words for "ten," "twenty," "thirty," and so on, are obscure.)

(startrek.klingon 9/1997):  I'm not a musical theorist, but from what I can figure, the first {yu} and the next {yu} are not an octave apart; they are a nonave apart.

 (KGT 153):  The origin of this slang usage of {jav} (literally, six) is unknown. The usual word for prisoner is {qama'} … This verb [{luH}] literally means "yank" and is used in such sentences as {jav luHpu' 'avwI'} (The guard has caused a prisoner to confess -- literally, "The guard has yanked a six").  Standard words expressing the same notions are {DISmoH} (cause to confess) and {peghHa'moH} (cause to not keep a secret).

PUN: 
Patrick McGoohan played Number Six in the TV show "The Prisoner."

SEE ALSO:
yutlhegh 	(musical) scale; spectrum  (n)
QoQ 		music (n)
romta' 		octave (n)
Savvanwer 	nonave (n)

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons