[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: Sotlaw'

[De'vID]

On Tue, 13 Apr 2021 at 17:52, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu> wrote:

> Klingon word:   Sotlaw'
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition:     distress call
> _______________________________________________
>
> AFAIK never used in a sentence.
>
> TREK TRIVIA:
> T'Pol doubted there was a distress beacon on the Somraw. "Klingons don't
> call for help." (ENT "Sleeping Targs")  However, Arik Soong used an escape
> pod (equipped with an automated distress beacon) to escape from the
> Bird-of-Prey his Augment “children” had captured in 2154. (ENT “The
> Augments”)
>
> PUN:   "shout loud"?
>
> SEE ALSO:
> ghum            [sound an] alarm (v)
> QaH             help,  aid (v)
> rIS             make a cracking/snapping sound; signal, emit a signal (v)
>
> Se'             frequency (n)
>    rI'Se'                  hailing frequency (n)
>    'evnagh Se'     subspace radio (n)
>
> ghum            alarm (n)
> rISwI'          transponder (sonar) (n)
> HablI'          data transceiving device (n)
> QumwI'  communicator (n)
>
> chaDvay'        radio frequency (n)
> wab HevwI'      radio (n) (TNK)
> wab labwI'      radio service, broadcaster, radio transmitter (n)
>   - (qep'a' 2017): This is used for broadcaster, radio service, etc. It
> can also be used for the device that does the transmitting. If a
> distinction must be made, the device is {wab labwI' jan}.
>

I'm surprised you didn't mention the verb {Sot}: "be distressed, be in
distress".

Folk etymology: I imagine that when Klingons started signalling for help,
whomever saw the signals said {Sotlaw'} "he/she is/they are apparently in
distress", and over time, this expression became frozen as a noun referring
to the signal itself.

-- 
De'vID
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.kli.org/pipermail/tlhingan-hol-kli.org/attachments/20210414/32f28192/attachment-0015.htm>