[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: QongDaq

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon Word of the Day for Monday, September 05, 2022

Klingon word: QongDaq
Part of speech: noun
Definition: bed
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letqu' QongDaq 
The bed is very hard. CK

QongDaqDaq Qotbe' tlhInganpu' 
Klingons do not lie in bed. TKW

(msn.onstage.startrek.expert.Okrand 6/18/1997):  {QongDaq} 'could be a normal compound noun'--but the important word there is could: It could be a compound noun IF both {Qong} and {Daq} are nouns. We know that {Daq} place is a noun; we know that {Qong} is a verb (sleep); we don't know that {Qong} (presumably sleep or sleeping) is a noun. Maybe it is--but until we see it as a noun in its own right (that is, in a place in a sentence where nouns occur and in a construction where it's not attached to {Daq}) will we know for sure. Until that time, it's a good hypothesis, but not a done deal... a word like {QongDaq} is evidence that at an earlier stage in the language, there may have been a noun {Qong} (meaning sleep or something similar). Or maybe there was a verb suffix {-Daq} meaning place where one does X. On the other hand, you may have uncovered evidence that there is currently a noun {Qong}--it just hasn't been attested anywhere else yet, so we should keep our eyes peeled. But without further evidence, it's a guess.

(CK):  Since Klingons are accommodating of foreigners, guest rooms in hotels do come equipped with a bed, but it's most often made of the same material as the floor.

TREK TRIVIA:
  The bed in the captain's quarters aboard the captured BOP was padded and equipped with fur blankets (ENT “Cold Station 12” & "The Augments")  and ENT “Cold Station 12” & "The Augments" (the latter padded and equipped with fur blankets in the BOP's captain's quarters). 

  When Captain K'Vada showed Picard to his quarters aboard his Bird-of-Prey, he slapped the hard bed - actually, more like a sleeping shelf - and sneered, "You will sleep Klingon-style. We do not cushion our bodies by putting down a pad." Nonplussed, Picard slapped the "bed" himself and replied, "Good. I like it that way." (TNG "Unification I")

  When Worf temporarily moved onto the Defiant to get away from the station, he removes the Starfleet-issue mattress from the bed in his quarters, pats the hard bare metal frame and grunts in satisfaction. Jadzia has observed him and asks, “Better?” Worf replies, “Much.” (DS9 “Bar Association”)

SEE:
Qong			sleep (v)
QongDaq buq  		pillow, sleeping bag (n) 
QongDaq buqHom  	pillow (n)
QongDaq buq’a’  	sleeping bag (n)
QongDaq ‘echlet tun  	mattress (n) (qepHom 2016: “a very non-Klingon concept!”)

SEE ALSO:
nIvnav 			pajamas (n)
ngogh tun 		pillow (n)
quSlab 			couch (n)

--
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.