[Tlhingan-hol] Salt

[Steven Boozer]

Fiat Knox:

> Klingons clearly do not use condiments on their {tlhagh patat
> 'oQqar naQHommey}. But is there a word for the {tlhIl} that
> Terrans known as salt?

AFAIK there's nothing from Maltz, but the pre-KGT Klingon Bible Translation Project used *{Sojqut}.  This may well be moot as apparently Klingons don't add salt to their food (at least not as a condiment):

KGT 100:  When the food arrives, it should be eaten as is; nothing equivalent to a saltshaker will be found on a Klingon dining table.

There is of course the quality {na'} "be salty, be brackish":

KGT 85-86:  Klingon food also frequently tastes {wIb} (sour, bitter) or {na'} (salty, brackish). The closest equivalent to sweet is probably {na'ran rur} ("resembles a naran," a fruit whose juice is sometimes added to sauces as a contrast to the other flavors). ... The usual Federation Standard translations of the primary tastes (pungent, sour, salty) are a little deceptive. From the Klingon point of view, it is not accurate to say that a particular food is sour; rather, it tastes and smells sour. That is, sourness is not an intrinsic quality of the food; it is a perception, the effect the food has upon the senses of smell and taste, the Klingon sense of smell being particularly highly developed. Translations such as "sour-inducing" ({Soj wIb}, "sour-inducing food"; {na' Soj}, "The food induces saltiness") would perhaps be closer to the feeling of the Klingon, but they are a bit clumsy.

KGT 96:  Often, however, there is no {Qenvob} [ground-up, dried-up mixture for brewing tea]; the tea is made by simply picking thorns, leaves, petals, or seeds off of a plant and immediately immersing them in the water. Usually brackish water ({bIQ na'}) is best.



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons