[tlhIngan Hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ngan

[Steven Boozer]

Klingon word: ngan
Part of speech: noun
Definition: inhabitant
_______________________________________________

qo'mey Sar charghtaHvIS chaH Dat tlhIngan may'Duj luleghDI' neH qIb 
  nganpu' buQpu' may'Duj 'ej ghIjpu' 'oH. nIteb ghIjpu' je Deghvam 
this symbol grew to become as feared throughout the galaxy as the 
 menacing profiles of their battlecruisers.  (SP1)

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

'op ben pa' Dab ngan 'ej chep 
It [i.e. {yer}] was alive and prosperous once.  (PB)

(KGT 141-2):  A name for the inhabitant of a planet (and, therefore, the name of a race of beings) is formed by adding {ngan} (inhabitant) to the planet name (excluding the number, if any):  {lIghonngan} (Ligonian), {tera'ngan} (Earther, Terran), {romuluSngan} (Romulan).  (Actually, there is some phonetic variation here. Ligonian is often pronounced {lIghongan}, dropping the final n of {lIghon} before the initial /ng/ of {ngan}. This is not considered an error, only an alternate pronunciation.) Occasionally, and no doubt owing to influence from Federation Standard, from which names, as noted, are often taken, an extra syllable, {-ya'-}, comes between the planet name and {ngan}. Thus, {Denebian} -- that is, an inhabitant of one of the Deneb planets -- is both {DenIbngan} and {DenIbya'ngan}. The planet name itself is also heard in two forms: {DenIb} (formed from the name Deneb) and {DenIbya'} (formed by dropping the {ngan} from {DenIbya'ngan}).

(SuStel < qepHom 2019, 11/20/2019):  Not yet mentioned on this list is the information on page [19 of the qepHom 2019 booklet] that {-ngan} is generally translated as "people of", but that it's more generally used to indicate a group of beings, not necessarily beings from a particular place. Thus we have the answer to the old dilemma of whether a Klingon living on Earth could be called a {tera'ngan}: the answer is generally no, because {tera'ngan} is generally understood to refer to humans, but someone wanting to split hairs could legitimately claim that any inhabitant of Earth could be called a {tera'ngan}. Said person should be prepared to fend off an attack of eye-rolling.

(MO to Lieven, 3/27/2012):  Maltz said that for language names the construction "country + {Ho}l" is most common (so he preferred {DoyIchlan Hol}). Of course, it doesn't have to be a "country." It could be a region or a political unit or alliance of another kind (which is why {DIvI' Hol} fits in). He noted that {tlhIngan Hol} is really a shortened form of {tlhIngan wo' Hol}, but nobody ever says that in everyday speech. If one were to say {vulqangan Hol} ("Vulcan's language" or "Vulcans' language"), that could mean the same thing as {vulqan Hol}, so the speaker would generally not be misunderstood, but if at an intergalactic gathering a Vulcan were speaking Federation Standard, then {vulqangan Hol} for that Vulcan at that time and place would be {DIvI' Hol}. There is no such thing as {qa'naDa' Hol}, but {qa'naDa'ngan Hol} might refer to {DIvI' Hol} or {vIraS Hol} (or Cree or Inuit or many other languages). So Maltz thought it best to avoid the {-ngan} construction for language names.

CULTURE:
(KGT 17):  Before the time of the unification of the Empire by Kahless, the amount of interaction between inhabitants of different regions varied.

PUN/ETYMOLOGY: 
(De'vID, 1/26/2022):  Nobody has pointed this out, but the out-of-universe origin of {ngan} is almost certainly that it is a good fit for the English ending "-ian" for Trek alien names (Organian, Denebian, Cardassian, Ligonian, etc.) and also happens to be the ending of {tlhIngan}.  (One can theorise that {tlhIngan} was originally a demonym for people from a place named {tlhIng}, a name which survives in {tlhIng yoS}.)  Thus, the "people of" meaning probably came first, and the "inhabitant" definition for the standalone {ngan} probably arose out of the necessity of giving it *some* definition.

SEE ALSO:
rewbe' 		citizen (n)
Sung 		native (n)
vInDa' 		compatriot, community member, cohort, fellow citizen (n)
chuD 		people, kin, member of the same group or tribe or clan (n)
roghvaH 	population (n)
nov 		alien, outsider, foreigner (n)

toq 		be inhabited (v)
chIm 		be uninhabited, deserted (v)
Dab 		reside, dwell in/at (v)


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons