[Tlhingan-hol] New words: screw and nail

[Steven Boozer]

Marc Okrand wrote to Qov:
>> The word for "screw" is <Hut'In vIl>, which is, of course,
>> a ridgy <Hut'In>. Turns out <Hut'In> is the word for "nail."

{Hut'Inmey} are used with a {mupwI'} "hammer" no doubt, which may mean that {mup} "impact, strike" is the operative verb.  We also have {qIp} "hit (with hand, fist, implement)" and {moq} "beat (something with an implement)" available.  {moq} is used WRT percussion instruments:

KGT 74-75:  "Other members of this group of instruments are hit with a stick of some kind. The stick often resembles a small hammer; when it does, it is termed {mupwI'Hom} (literally, "small striker"). A plain stick is a {naQHom} (literally, "small cane" or "small staff"). To strike the instrument with a stick is to {moq} ("beat") the instrument."

Qov:
>> Maltz also volunteered that the word for "spike" is <wIl>.
>
> And it turns out wIl is extremely useful for my story, too.

As it happens, we have two other words for "spike", {DuQwI'} and {pu'}:

KGT 61:  A spike is a {DuQwI'} and the small spikes on the *d'k tahg* are usually called {DuQwI'Hommey} (little spikes).

KGT 58:  A warrior's glove ({pogh}), also made of skin, had wide band around the wrist and sharp protrusions at the knuckles. If there was a special name for these protrusions, it is lost; they are now called simply {DuQwI'mey} (spikes).

KGT 67:  Included in this category is the {ghanjaq}, often translated as "mace", a club with a metal head, sometimes sporting spikes ({DuQwI'mey}).
 
KGT 58:  On the toe of each high boot ({DaS}) ... was a clawlike spike called a {pu'}. ... In contemporary Klingon, the spike on the toe of a boot is always called a {DaSpu'} ("boot spike"), never {pu'} alone.

I'm guessing that a {wIl} is a large, heavy spike - which makes sense if Qov is right about it being a "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" reference.  Presumably all three new words are construction terms, used in building starships, buildings, etc.


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons