[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tlhogh

[Will Martin]

I just want to point out that the English verb “marry” is used in a way that everything here said about {tlhogh} perhaps excludes. A priest marries a couple. 

I have officiated the weddings of two of my step-children. In my state, any citizen can request a one-event license to officiate a wedding for a specific couple, hence my personal familiarity with the verb. My neighbor similarly officiated my marriage to my wife. 

So, in this sense, I didn’t marry my wife. My wife and I were married by my neighbor. 

Hence: My wife and I were married to each other. We didn’t directly marry each other. Our neighbor married us. To each other. 

Nothing said about {tlhogh} suggests that it can be used in this way.  

charghhwI’ 

> On Jul 7, 2021, at 11:53 AM, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu> wrote:
> 
> Klingon word:    tlhogh
> Part of speech:    verb
> Definition:    get married to, marry
> Source:    13 July 2017 email to Lieven
> _______________________________________________
> 
> B tlhogh A 
> A marries B. (Lieven < MO, 7/13/2017)
> 
> tlhoghchuq A B je 
> A and B marry each other. (Lieven < MO, 7/13/2017
> 
> (Lieven < MO, 7/13/2017, WRT same-sex marriage): Maltz says that, more and more, he's hearing an older word, {tlhogh}. (I don't know how he's hearing this – my basement isn't really equipped for extraterrestrial communication – but I certainly believe him.) The noun {tlhogh} is quite common. It means marriage, and it can be used for anybody marrying anybody. The verb {tlhogh}, however, was long considered quaint or archaic. But it's being used with increased frequency. It means marry and, like its noun counterpart, it can be used by both partners regardless of sex/gender, so it's used for male-male marriages, female-female marriages, and everything else. Use of this word lacks the yin-yang connotation of Saw and nay, but it's well suited for expressing what the folks getting married are up to. Depending on what you want to say, both {tlhogh} and {tlhoghchuq} are heard: {B tlhogh A} "A marries B";  {tlhoghchuq A B je} "A and B marry each other."  But some Klingons also say {Sawchuq} and {naychuq}. The choice seems to be whatever the folks getting married prefer.
> 
> (Lieven < MO, 7/13/2017):  This verb can be used regardless of who's getting married. Marry in the sense of what the person who conducts a marriage ceremony does would be {tlhoghmoH} (and the object would be plural).
> 
> SEE:
> tlhogh          marriage (n)
> 
> SEE ALSO:
> 'Ip        vow, swear, take an oath (v)
> 
> loDnal        husband (n)
> be’nal        wife (n)
> ’Ipnal          spouse (gender-neutral term) (n)
> lIwnal        concubine (n)
> 'e'nal        one who married into the family (n)
> 'IrneHnal    uncle by marriage (mother's sister's husband) (n)
> tennuSnal    uncle by marriage (father's sister's husband) (n)
> 'e'mamnal    aunt by marriage (father's brother's wife) (n)
> me'nal        aunt by marriage (mother's brother's wife) (n)
> 
> TREK NOTES:
> 
>  "The phrase [{naH jajmey}] vegetable days … refers to one's youth, a time before reaching an age considered appropriate for marriage. The imagery is of a plant, rooted but growing, just as a Klingon youth still needs grounding (the home) for nourishment (teaching) in order to grow spiritually." (KGT 110) 
> 
>  Martok compared getting married to a war breaking out: "A long, grueling, intoxicating war." Although General Martok has won his fair share of battles over the course of his marriage, he knows that in the end his wife Sirella will win the war. (DS9 "Strange Bedfellows")
> 
>  "The Oath is the "Klingon ritual of marriage, solemnizing the bond between husband and wife in the Klingon culture. Worf and K'Ehleyr almost "took the oath" after they spent a night together on the Enterprise-D holodeck in 2365, but neither felt ready for such a commitment at that time, even though they had just conceived a child together."  
> 
>  {tlhIngan jIH} "I am a Klingon" is "[the first] part of the oath spoken between husband and wife in solemnizing their marriage", which is for life. (STE [1994] 344; TNG "The Emissary")
> 
>  "*Tawi'Yan* is a term in Klingonese meaning sword-bearer. In a Klingon wedding the *Tawi'Yan* was their equivalent of Earth's best man. Alexander Rozhenko acted as the *Tawi'Yan* in his father Worf's wedding to Jadzia Dax in 2374." (DS9 "You Are Cordially Invited"; cf. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Tawi'Yan )
> 
>  When Quark asked Grilka for a divorce, she shouted "*N'Gos tlhogh cha!* ("This marriage is dissolved!"), slapped him to the ground and spat at him. (DS9 "House of Quark")
> 
> --
> Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
>    Please contribute relevant vocabulary from the last year or two. I’ve fallen 
>    behind in updating my files and adding cross-references for related words.  
> 
> 
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