[Tlhingan-hol] the birth of a new word: qorgh

[Lieven]

During an interview with Marc Okrand, I overwhelmed him and said: "Okay, 
let's create a new word just now and here, so that people may see how 
that works. You've got thirty seconds."

He immediately started laughing and shook is head, but he was willing to 
play along.

MO: Oh boy! What do we need a word for? Or maybe a verb? ... Verbs are 
generally easier.... If I only have such a short time, I would probably 
just make up a single syllable that hasn't been used yet. If I had more 
than thirty seconds, I would ponder and ponder and see if we could play 
with it or not. I wouldn't say that every Klingon word is a pun, that's 
not true at all. I think that's what makes Klingon different from Na'vi 
and Dothraki. I don't think they have any puns in that way.

Okay, now let's start and find a new word... What's the word for this?

[shows a pen's cap]

LL: I would call that a yuvtlhe', like the lid or the cap of a bottle. 
But what would you call a cork of a bottle?

MO: Oh, yes, what's the word for that? It must be a something-wI'. Is 
there a word for "block, prevent"?

LL: Yes, but that one is used to stop a person or an enemy in a somehow 
military sense.

MO: So you need a different word for "block"?

LL: Actually, what we need is a verb for "close a hole" like a keyhole.

MO: Where you put the paper in front of it at the hotel...

LL: No, it means something like "put inside the hole to close it".

MO: Alright, we're making progress... close the hole... So the cork is 
the "thing which does close the hole (of the bottle)". I was thinking of 
choq or choQ, that might be a good word... Oh, these already exist - 
that won't work then.

[some long thinking]

Hm... What about laj? No, that won't work either. We will probably just 
end up with an arbitrary syllable...
 
[some more long thinking]

LL: Wouldn't {ghoD} "stuff" work here?

MO: No, that's more like putting things inside a backpack or a pillow 
bag...

[checks a list of unused syllables]

What if it was {qorgh}?

LL: That word does not exist.

MO: It does now. {qorgh} is "to stop up, to fill a hole". You can stop 
up a hole, but not fill it in with dirt. That would be {teb}. {qorgh} is 
to stop up an opening somehow. It's like filling in, and not put stuff 
inside. So the word for the cork is a {qorghwI'.}

That took us more than thirty seconds.

-- 
Lieven L. Litaer
aka Quvar valer 'utlh
http://www.facebook.com/Klingonteacher