[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: tlhoy'

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: tlhoy'
Part of speech: noun
Definition: wall, interior wall, interior face of exterior wall, territorial wall
Source: SKNG:07DEC1998
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leD rav tlhoy' je 
the floor and the wall are perpendicular (to each other) (qepHom 2014)

(st.k 12/07/1998):  An interior wall (such as a wall separating your living room from your kitchen) is a {tlhoy'}.  An exterior wall (that is, a wall which separates the inside of a building from the outside) is a {reD}.  For the interior side of an exterior wall, it is quite common to use {tlhoy'}, but the phrase {pa' reD}, literally "room's exterior wall" ({pa'} "room") is also heard, referring to the wall in a room which faces outside (as opposed to the other walls in the room whose other sides are still indoors).  
     The wall around a city is a {yergho}, which is apparently derived from {yer} "domain, holdings, territory" plus {gho} "circle."  A wall which divides a territory into parts (such as the Berlin Wall) is also called a {tlhoy'}, even though neither side of it is the interior of a structure.  On occasion, for clarity, such a wall is termed a {chevwI' tlhoy'} "separator wall") or a {pIn tlhoy'}, literally "boss wall," presumably dating back to a time when each subterritory had a specific person in charge.  
     The phrase {pa' tlhoy'} "room's interior wall" is also heard from time to time, but usually only when it is necessary to distinguish the "interior wall" sense of {tlhoy'} from the "separator wall" sense.  A {tlhoy'} "interior wall" need not be vertical.  
     In a multistory structure, the stories are separated by what Klingon architects and builders call a {tlhoy' SaS} "horizontal wall".  The side of this "wall" which is the bottom of the upper story is the {rav} "floor"; the side which is the top of the lower story is the {rav'eq} "ceiling" (based on {rav} "floor" plus {'eq}, an element otherwise unknown (there is no evidence it is connected to {'eq} "be early").

TREK NOTES:
  After boarding the Klingon ship Somraw in 2151, Hoshi says that *ka'tahl* can mean wall, barrier or hull. [ENT "Sleeping Targs"[

SEE ALSO:
Som 		hull (n)
tajvaj 		corner of room (n)
veH tIn 		Great Barrier (GN)

pa' beb 		ceiling (n)
beb 		roof (n)

--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons