On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 10:46:44AM -0400, SuStel wrote:

On 10/17/2016 10:27 AM, kechpaja wrote:

On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 01:55:22PM +0000, Steven Boozer wrote:

Klingon Word of the Day for Saturday, October 15, 2016

Klingon word: chaQ
Part of speech: verb
Definition: thrust upward with end of *bat'leth*

(KGT 59):  There is an extensive vocabulary for the moves associated with bat'leth use. To thrust or lunge toward one's opponent, for example, is {jop}. To deflect a thrust--that is, to parry--is {way'}. To thrust either end of the bat'leth (as opposed to the long part of the blade) upward is {chaQ}. To change the approximate orientation of the weapon from horizontal to vertical is {ngol}; the reverse is {lev}. To slide the blade of one's bat'leth along the blade of the opponent's weapon is {DIj}. To twirl or rotate the bat'leth is {jIrmoH} and to toss it from one hand to the other (the same word is used whether left to right or right to left) is {baQ}.

This makes me wonder: is there a specific term that we know of meaning
"to thrust either end of the bat'leth *downward*"? That seems to be a
fairly common move in the combat shown on screen in Star Trek, usually
parried by holding the blade horizontal to catch the thrust. Or would
you just say {jop} and it would be assumed that that was what you were
describing?

I'd expect *Qach* to be used for that motion; it's the same motion you'd 
use with**an axe or club.

In KGT, {Qach} is defined as "wield or swing (a weapon)", without any
specification as to which direction the weapon is being swung in, so it
seems a bit more general than what I had in mind.

In the word-list, yes, but it's also explained as the specific word you use for swinging an 'obmaQ ax (general word), a jey'naS double-headed ax, an 'alngegh axe with an added spike at the end, an 'aqleH ax with half a bat'leth at the end of a handle, a jeqqIj club, bludgeon, and a ghanjaq mace.

You typically swing axes and clubs overhand, in an arc downward, just as SapIr was considering. Thus, I expect a bat'leth swing in the same manner to use the same verb, Qach. I don't know for sure that Qach means swing a weapon in a downward arc as you would an ax or club, but that's my working theory.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name