[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ngIq

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon Word of the Day for Saturday, August 20, 2022

Klingon word: ngIq
Part of speech: noun
Definition: single one, individual one, each one
Source: qep'a' wa'maHchorgh: Email from ghunchu'wI' 22 August 2011
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ngIq nuv luHoH 
they killed the warriors one by one. ('U'-OPERA)

yerchajvo' Haw' qamchIynganpu' ngIq nuv luHoH 
The people of Qam-Chee, they fled their territory, and were killed one by one (PB)

ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej tIqDu' lel | ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej quvqa' | ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej rIn may' 
In one single move, he removed the hearts; In one single move, he restored his honor; In one single move, the battle was done. (PB) 

[“The passage originally referred several times to wa' tonSaw' lo'... which didn't make it obvious that it was the same wa' each time. Marc substituted ngIq to disambiguate the meaning and emphasize that it was a single action described with many effects.” (ghunchu’wI’, 6/06/2016)]

ngIq tonSaw' lo' SaD law' San chenmoH qeylIS wej boghbogh nuvpu' San chenmoH 
In one single move, Kahless decided the fate of thousands, and those to come.  (PB)

nIteb chegh molor ngIq ghoqwI' 
One by one Molor's scouts return (PB)

ngIq raQ - 150 QaS 
outposts cost 150 each  (MKE)

ngIq raQ – 200 QaS, mon – 200 QaS loS raQmey je 
Outposts cost 200 each; capitals, 200 each plus 4 outposts. (MKE)

ngIq raQvaD cha'maH vagh QaS yInob 
For each outpost pay 25 forces. (MKE)

ngIq gholvaD vaghmaH QaS yInob 
Pay each player 50 forces. (MKE)

ngIq gholvo' wa'maH QaS yItlhap 
Collect 10 forces from every player. (MKE)

ngIq mIch wIHotlh 
we scan each individual sector one after the other, we scan the sectors one by one (qepHom 2017) 

["Note that ngIq is grammatically singular, similar to cha; MO specified in the notes for the latest qepHom [2017] that ngIq mIch wIHotlh is correct but *ngIq mIch DIHotlh. is not." (loghaD, 1/05/2018)]

ngIq HeySelmaj'e' nuSev 'ej nuqat… 
Atom by atom they will coil around us... (DSC "A Vulcan Hello")

mapIm ngIq maH 'e' luQaw'meH ghoS chaH. 
They come to destroy our individuality. (DSC "Battle at the Binary Stars")

(De'vID, boQwI';  "The description of {ngIq} in boQwI' is pretty good." (MO, qepHom 2017, p.24):  This noun indicates that a single thing is being considered apart from others, or that a sequence of identical things is considered one after another. Like {Hoch} and {'op}, it precedes what it modifies." 

(qepHom 2017):  ngIq can indeed carry the one after the other or one by one meaning. So ngIq mIch wIHotlh could mean we scan each individual sector one after the other or we scan the sectors one by one. Hoch does not have this sequential meaning. Hoch mIch wIHotlh is simply we scan each sector. Hoch focuses on things as members of a group; ngIq focuses on the individual things. It's a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. 
    Both Hoch and ngIq could be translated with each; Hoch, but not ngIq, could be translated with every. ngIq could also be translated as single or individual but the implication is that there are or could be other similar things as well (even if they don't matter for what is currently being talked about). For example, in paq'batlh, the phrase ngIq tonSaw' is translated one single move. The implication is that whatever is going on here could have been or might have been accomplished with several moves (presumably sequentially), but one was enough. Saying wa' tonSaw' would not get across the idea that more than one move was possible but was not needed and did not occur. 
    Sometimes ngIq and Hoch are interchangeable. For example, a sentence in Monopoly is ngIq gholvo' wa'maH QaS yItlhap Collect 10 forces from every player. Chances are, you'll take the forces from each opponent one at a time, one after the other (so ngIq is used appropriately here), but collecting the forces sequentially is not important as far as the game goes (so Hoch would have been fine as well). 
    ngIq X is considered inherently plural (like cha and some other words) since it refers to more than one X (if there were only one X, you'd simply say X or wa' X.) As such, it is grammatically singular, so wIHotlh in your sentence is correct; DIHotlh is wrong." 

(ghunchu'wI', 8/21/2011):  There were two distinct examples of this word's use seen in the opera. One of them was obviously detailing how a group of warriors was killed one at a time: ngIq nuv luHoH "they killed the warriors one by one." The other was a thrice-repeated ngIq tonSaw' lo' 'ej... in one single move, he..., making it clear that each of several results was the result of the same action. I surmise that ngIq by itself could mean "the one and only". Again, I didn't copy the lyrics, and what I have written here is probably not exactly what was on the pages we inspected.

(QeS, 8/22/2011):  To add to that, a couple of us did ask if lu- was the appropriate pronominal prefix in this example (given the gloss of "they killed *them* one by one"), and Marc confirmed explicitly that it is correct. […] I specifically recall Marc saying that ngIq meant something like (I quote) "each, but not every". I asked whether the sense could be seen as more distributive than Hoch: that is, each one of a group on its own, or separately - and he seemed to affirm that, but from the examples in the libretto I do get the feeling that the sense of sequence seems to be key too: the other example given by ghunchu'wI', ngIq voDleH wItoy' "we serve each emperor (in turn)", supports that idea (opposed to, say, Hoch voDleH wItoy' "we serve each emperor [simultaneously]"?).

(De’vID, 6/13/2022 in re PB2):  I actually did suggest to Dr. Okrand that one option to disambiguate the meaning of ngIq might be to use wa' with it (like the somewhat redundant ‘one single X’ in English). He wrote:  <If I’m right about the “one after another” interpretation of ngIq, I don’t think wa’ ngIq or ngIq wa’ is needed (whether it’s grammatical or not).>

TREK TRIVIA:
"I shall torture you to death, one by one." (Kang, TOS "Day of the Dove")

SEE ALSO:
latlh 		additional one, other one, another one (n)
Hoch 		everyone, all (of), each (n)

nIteb 		alone, acting alone, on one's own (adv)
nItebHa' 	linked, acting together (adv)

quq 		happen simultaneously (v)

--
Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
    Please contribute relevant vocabulary or notes from the last 
    year or two. I’ve fallen woefully behind in updating my files.