[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon honorific ranks

[Lieven]

There exist a handful of honorific titles used by many Klingon 
fangroups, such as the German Khemorex Klinzhai and also the Klingon 
Assault Group, KAG. These five words come from John M. Ford's 1984 novel 
The Final Reflection and are the following, from lowest to highest: tai, 
sutai, vestai, zantai, and epetai. The meaning of these words is based 
in John Ford's klingonaase language and can roughly be explained as 
follows: tai is a symbol of honor. The syllable zan is another title of 
respect, but it's not clear if those two syllables mean anything else 
when combined.

Now, at this point, Marc Okrand was asked if there is a klingon spelling 
known for these titles, since many people use them. He did not say 
anything about the literal meaning, or if there is a relationship 
between tlhIngan Hol and Klingonaase. But he said that there is no 
problem with using the word tay as an honorific title. The word itself 
means ceremony in the Klingon we speak, but there won't be any 
misunderstanding when somebody says

bIl tay jo’rIj jIH "I am Bill ceremony George". That would make no sense 
at all.

Okrand then confirmed the klingon spelling for those words:

tay
Sutay
veStay
Santay
’Iptay

We can now safely use the klingon honorifics ranks, and should not think 
about any literal meaning or any conflict with the klingonaase language.

Maybe these words are merely names for these ranks or they come from an 
unknown dialect of the Klingon empire.

I'll send Maltz' comment in another email.



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