At the qepHom 2016, we were happy to learn the word for magic, {'IDnar}. As a coincidence, one of the attendees is a famous professional magician, so the immediate and obvious first question was: What do you call a magician? Few days ago, it was the magician's 40th birthday, and Marc... ehm, sorry, Maltz made this information his birthday present: --- begin quote --- I talked with Maltz about magic a little bit, and here's what he had to say: A true wizard or sorcerer – like in Harry Potter – is a ’IDnar pIn’a’. To conjure or to cast a spell, which is what wizards do, is reS. So a wizard or sorcerer can also be called a reSwI’. A spell, in this sense, is tlheH. One can say either tlheH reS or just reS alone for "he/she casts a spell." Maltz wasn’t sure if there is anything besides tlheH that can be the object of reS, since Maltz isn’t a ’IDnar pIn’a’, but maybe there is. The most common way to refer to a magician, like Kalibo, is mIn yuqwI’ (yuq is “outwit, outsmart”). (A mIn tojwI’ is an “optical illusion.”) Another expression for “magician” is ’IDnar lIlwI’. lIl is a verb meaning something like “simulate, impersonate.” The idea is one of doing something such that the subject of the verb looks or behaves like something (or someone) else or represents something (or someone) else. The word has no connotation of fraud or anything underhanded (in this respect, it’s like ghet). The object is the thing being simulated or the person being impersonated. lIlwI’ (“simulator,” for lack of a better term) is different from lIw (“substitute”) since lIw implies replacement (the notion of “instead of”) while a lIlwI’ doesn’t replace anyone or anything. So “perform magic” (as Kalibo does) is mIn yuq or ’IDnar lIl. (’IDnar pIn’a’ lIl would be “he/she impersonates a wizard [non-fraudulently].” Another word Maltz thought of as we were talking about all of this is yut “distract, create a diversion.” The object of this verb, when there is an object, is the person or group of people (usually) being distracted. [...personal messages removed] Happy Birthday to Kalibo. - Marc PS - My favorite sentence at the moment is “They are (continuously and with some sort of goal in mind) impersonating you (plural).” --- end quote --- -- Lieven L. Litaer aka Quvar valer 'utlh Grammarian of the KLI http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher http://www.klingonwiki.net