[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: mI' nagh

[Steven Boozer]

> Klingon word:   mI' nagh
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition:     playing dice, die

>From Monopoly Klingon Edition (MKE).  As used in canon:

  cha' mI' naghmey 
  two dice (MKE)

Cultural notes:

Cf. {qeylIS mInDu'} "Eyes of Kahless" (a guessing game with dice where the winner receives a punch).  qoror and DloraH describe the scene in KCD:

"You roll two dice (I think they have more than six sides), and the other person snatches one in each hand before you can see how they came up. Then you slap the hand that you think has the die with the higher number on top, and if you're right, you win. There can be some additions for extra flavor, such as spitting into the hand with which you're rolling, or taking a {Daqtagh} and striking it down on the table between the two hands." (qoror) 

"And IIRC one of them gets punched in the face...of course." (DloraH) 

Trek notes:

DATA:  "There is a certain degree of random fortune involved. I believe that is why they call it 'gambling'." (about a game of dice, TNG "The Royale")

Related verbs:

SuD 		gamble, take a chance
jaD 		throw around, hurl about
ngeQ       bump into, collide with (something stationary)

For craps (where the player has to bounce the dice off a stationary backboard, we have the verb {ngeQ}:

KGT 158:  To refer to a something in motion colliding with something stationary, a different verb, {ngeQ} (bump into, collide with) is used, as in {raS ngeQ tera'ngan} ("The Terran bumps into the table").

I don't know if the following can be used with anything other than aircraft (or spacecraft), but here they are FYI:

ron  		roll, bank (i.e. aircraft) 
ronmoH 	[cause to] roll [i.e. aircraft]

IOW can one say *{mI' naghmey ronmoH QujwI'} "the player rolled the dice"?  Probably not.  

Alternatively one could always say {mI' naghmey vIHmoH QujwI'} "the player caused the dice to move".  {vIH} "move, be in motion" is already associated with {qa'vaQ}:

  vIHtaH gho 
  The hoop is moving. 

KGT 112:  The expression comes from a maneuver used for hunting practice known as the {qa'vaQ} in which a hoop ({gho}) is rolled and one tries to throw a stick through it while it is moving. The verb vIH (move, be in motion) can be applied to any sort of motion. In this case, it refers to the motion associated with the hoop in this exercise, namely rolling.


--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons