[tlhIngan Hol] origin of the name "Saq'sub"

Steven Boozer sboozer at uchicago.edu
Fri Jul 15 07:01:17 PDT 2022


Thanks for sharing this with us.
{SaQSub} in the paq’batlh (the examples I know of):

  SaqSub'e' muSHa'bogh pawmeH leng qeylIS HuDmey Sal ghIq ghIr
  And Kahless traveled to his beloved Saq'sub, over the mountains

  HuDqIjDaq qet ghIq Hechaj bot QIStaq
  Running over the Black Hills until Kri'stak blocks their path. (PB)

  SaqSub qach tIQ beb bIngDaq pay’ qul’a’ tu’lu’
  Then fires burst under the roofs of the Saq’sub’s ancient houses

  pIraQSIS maS bIngDaq pIgh rur SaqSub chIm choSlu’pu’bogh
  The Saq'sub lay empty and desolate under the Praxis moon.

  SaqSubDaq pagh Qoylu'
  In the Saq'sub all is quiet

  qamchIy HurDaq SuvwI’pu’Daj ra’ qeylIS SaqSub yIjaH
  Outside Qam-Chee, Kahless tells his warriors to go to the Saq'sub.

  Hem SaqSubnganpu' DevwI'chaj SoHmo'
  The people of the Saq'sub will be proud of a leader like you.

SaqSub was destroyed by the evil Molor's forces.

--Voragh

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From: tlhIngan-Hol On Behalf Of De'vID

Lieven asked me about this off-list, and in the interest of sharing Klingon-language trivia, I'll copy my answer here.

<It was made up for the opera 'u'. The writers needed a name for Kahless' native region and didn't have one, so they made up a word that means "hero's land" ({Sub} "n. hero", {Saq} "v. land"), and put the words together in the manner of {paq'batlh} "book of honor" and so on. I don't know why they used {Saq} the verb and not {puH} the noun. Either they made a mistake or they just liked the sound or look of "Saq'sub" over "puH'sub" or whatever it would've been.

Since it was used in the opera, we didn't change it. It's a proper name anyway and isn't given a meaning in-universe.>

Of course, Star Trek writers may later contradict this, but as the latest Star Trek shows have Klingon-language consultants, I hope that if the writers are looking for the place of Kahless' origin, they would be informed that a name for the place already exists in Okrandian canon and use it. (It's part of Okrand's canon because he blessed it or retroactively approved it or whatever, but it's not yet in Star Trek canon because the name hasn't appeared in any show.)
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