[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: SuD

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon Word of the Day for Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Klingon word: SuD
Part of speech: verb
Definition: be green, be blue, be yellow
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SuD 'ej wov 
(it) is {SuD} and light (KGT; a way to refer to a yellowish tinge)

SuD 'ach wov 
[(it) is] {SuD} but light (KGT; is also heard)

SuD Dargh 'ej wov 
The tea is {SuD} and light. (KGT)

SuDbogh Dargh 'ej wovbogh 
The tea that is {SuD} and light. (KGT)

(KGT 81-82):  Compared to Federation Standard, Klingon terminology associated with colors is rather limited. First of all, there is no noun meaning color. There is, however, a verb, {nguv}, which means something like "be dyed, stained, tinted", though it is seldom used except in the phrase {chay' nguv} ("How is [it] tinted?") or when suffixed with {-moH} ("cause") in the form {nguvmoH} ("dye, tint, stain"; that is, "cause to be dyed," etc.)

(KGT 82):  Various devices are employed when it is necessary to talk about colors more precisely. The suffix {-qu'} is useful as in {Doqqu'} (red) and {SuDqu'} (green). {wov} and {Hurgh} may also modify colors as in {SuD 'ej wov} (yellow) or objects may be compared to something else that typically has a particular color as in {Doq 'ej beqpuj rur} "(it) is {Doq} and resembles {beqpuj}" (an orange mineral).  [...] The fact that neither {SuD} nor {Doq} includes what is called violet or purple in Federation Standard may be related to Klingon physiology--that is, exactly how the Klingon eye processes different wavelengths of light. 

(startrek.klingon 2/1998):  "If the context is clear (such as contrasting a brown thing with a thing that cannot be described as {Doq}, such as something that's {SuD} "blue, green, yellow"), {Doq} alone is good enough. Thus, if there are two drinking cups, one brown and one blue, one might say:  {HIvje' Doq qaneH} "I want the {Doq} cup" [sic! for {vIneH}]. Only the brown cup could be described as {Doq}; the blue cup is definitely not {Doq} since it is {SuD}.

(SuStel, 10/30/2009):  Klingon has four color terms: {qIj} "be black", {SuD} "be blue, green, yellow", {chIS} "be white", and {Doq} "be red, orange". According to the theory about color terms, yellow is always a color associated with warm colors, and blue and green are always associated with cool colors. The Klingon verb {SuD} violates the hierarchy, and Okrand has confirmed that he did this on purpose. It is a linguistic joke.
 [see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_term ])

(IMO, HolQeD 8.3):  There is also an idiomatic phrase which conveys the idea of jealousy:  {SuD veqlargh mInDu'}.  Literally, this means "Fek'lhr's eyes are yellow/green", but it is used to express the idea that somebody is jealous. It would be used in an exchange such as: 
    A:  loSmaH romulusngan SuvwI'pu' HoHta' qeng.
    B:  SuD veqlargh mInDu'.
    A:  Kang killed 40 Romulan warriors.
    B:  Somebody is jealous!
Speaker "B" is saying that speaker "A" is jealous of Kang.

 (SuStel, 9/03/2019):  My memory of the thing Okrand did intentionally was that according to Berlin-Kay, yellow tends to either have its own word, or it is grouped with red and orange. The Klingon system groups it with blue and green, which makes sense if you look at a spectrum and see that it is arbitrary whether it is grouped with red/orange or green/blue, but languages generally tend to group it with red/orange. There is no technical reason why human languages group yellow with red and orange. They just do.

(Brent Kesler, 9/04/2019):   The question is where languages draw borders between colors. The HolQeD article I dimly remember argued that grouping yellow with green/blue is so odd it's almost alien and speculated that MO knew about the Berlin-Kay hierarchy, and had it mind when he made up the word {SuD} in 1984.

DloraH once had a web page showing the gradations between {Doq} and {SuD} at https://65.13.120.12/tlhIngan/color.jpg but it's no longer online.  Has he moved it to another platform?  

SEE:
SuD  	gamble, take a chance, take a risk (v)

(PK):  {SuD} also means "take a risk", which may explain the joke:
    A:  Doq'a' SuvwI'pu'?
    B:  ghobe', SuD!
    A:  Are warriors red?
    B:  No, they are green! 

SEE ALSO:
Doq 	be red/orange (v)
nIl 	be grassy/verdant (v)

--
Voragh, Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
    Please contribute relevant vocabulary from recent qep’a’mey 
    or qepHommey. I’ve fallen woefully behind in updating my files.