[Tlhingan-hol] QangHom

[Rohan Fenwick - QeS 'utlh]

ghItlhpu' Qov, jatlh:
> I tend to use {qup} "elder" for this (especially for "senator"); cp.
> {quprIp} "Council of Elders".  I don't know if {qup} refers to an
> honored, traditional leader or just someone elderly.

jang Philip, jatlh:
> Given that it's the "opposite" of {puq} "child", I had always assumed
> that it referred to anyone older.

jang De'vID, jatlh:
> But surely, a {quprIp} is a council not just of elderly people, but of
> elderly people who are distinguished in some way.

To complicate things, I wonder if older people in Klingon culture might
be venerated or considered distinguished simply *because* they're older.
There might be no functional difference between "elderly person" and
"traditional leader".

In many Australian Aboriginal cultures age plays a big part in being a
traditional leader. Older people are thought to have learned more, to be
more experienced, and to know more law and traditions. One of my old
anthropology lecturers was a man of European descent but initiated into
the Yanyuwa people: he went grey quite young, and he told us that the
Yanyuwa said it was because he had had to learn Yanyuwa law much more
quickly and much earlier than was usual.

As for Klingons, given that they're expected to kill a superior if they
show signs of incompetence, maybe a Klingon who even makes it to old age
is automatically venerated as a particularly able person, since he or
she must have been very competent or skilled to avoid being offed at
some point by a greedy subordinate.

Just musing, though...

QeS 'utlh