SapIr:
> I realize I'm jumping in late and may be missing earlier context, but in
> this particular instance I suspect you're thinking of a different
> meaning of "sterilize". The Klingon word {Say'qu'moH} presumably does
> *not* mean "to render incapable of reproduction"
This meaning of "sterilize", never came to my mind.
My confusion with {Say'moH} being given as "sterilize", instead of
"make very clean", had to do with the fact, that in order to make lets
say the cat very clean, you give it a good bath. But in order to
sterilize it, you need after the bath, to apply on it alcohol, iodine
solution etc.
Some of the glosses given to us are just "convenience" definitions so that ideas which may be expressed as something other than a simple word in Klingon (e.g., a verb with suffixes, or a sentence) can be looked up more easily. It's like {jeS 'e' Sap} for "sign up (for an event)" or {mebpa'mey} for "hotels".
Considering that {Say'qu'moH} was glossed as "sterilize" among other medical/scientific terms such as {Hergh QaywI'}, {tuj muvwI'}, {'uD'a'}, {'uD Haqtaj}, and {woj}, I'm fairly confident that it just means that a Klingon doctor calling to sterilise an operating table or room would say {Say'qu'moH} "make (the table or room) *very* clean" and be understood, because *in that context* that's what making very clean would mean.
It doesn't mean that if your dirty cat tracked mud all over my Bird-Of-Prey, and I tell you to {vIghro'lIj Say'qu'moH jay'}, that I expect you to apply alcohol and iodine to it.