[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: ghargh

[Steven Boozer]

> Klingon Word of the Day for Tuesday, December 06, 2011
> 
> Klingon word:   ghargh
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition:     serpent worm


Okrand goes into some detail in KCD on the distinction between {ghargh} - which refers to serpent worms as animals - and {qagh} - which refers to serpent worms alive but with seasonings and sauce added, served as food, and which is never pluralized.

KGT 89:  Klingons generally {Sep} (breed) small animals such as {gharghmey} (worms).

HQ 10.4:  [The {vem'eq} is] a bird that feeds almost exclusively on the serpent worm from which {qagh} is made (Klingons are not particularly fond of the {vem'eq})

Used in a sentence:

 <yajchu'.  ghargh... veQ> (?) 
 [Understood clearly. Worms... garbage! (untranslated)] ST3


Related nouns and phrases:

{ghargh HIq}  worm wine:

  pubtaHbogh ghargh HIq vItlhutlh 
  I will drink boiling worm wine. PK


{'Iwghargh}  bloodworm: 

  reH HIvje'lIjDaq 'Iwghargh Datu'jaj 
  May you always find a bloodworm in your glass! PK


{reghuluS 'Iwghargh}  Regulan bloodworm:

They are "soft and spineless" according to Korax. (TOS "The Trouble with Tribbles")

Dr. Phlox has used these harmless worms for years to clean a patient's lymphatic system, but are difficult to replace (ENT "Strategem"); Phlox held one up with a pair of forceps and the app. 4-inch long worms were, indeed, quite soft.  According to Dr Phlox, Regulan bloodworms are excellent for filtering toxins (ENT "Two Days and Two Nights").  Information about Regulan bloodworms was displayed as a computer graphic in Keiko O'Brien's schoolroom on Deep Space 9 (DS9 "A Man Alone", "The Nagus") and in the infirmary aboard Deep Space 9 (DS9 "Babel").

  tun; reghuluS 'Iwghargh rur 
  soft as a Regulan bloodworm  KGT


Cf. also {qagh} *gagh* (serpent worms [as food]) and {raHta'} *racht* (a larger variety of edible serpent worm [FTG]).

"There's nothing worse than half-dead *racht*." (DS9 "Melora")


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons