Re: Klingon WOTD: tay (noun)

[Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>]

>This is the Klingon Word Of The Day for Friday, June 17, 2005.
>
>Klingon word:   tay
>Part of Speech: noun
>Definition:     ceremony, rite, ritual

By itself, {tay} has never been used in canon but it is common in 
compounds:  {chontay} ritual hunt; {Heghtay} Death Ritual; {muvtay} 
initiation, induction ceremony, initiation rite; {nentay} Rite of 
Ascension; {qutluch tay} Kut'luch Ceremony; {ruStay} bonding ritual ("the 
R'uustai").  On these models, others have proposed the (so far) 
non-canonical *{Darghtay} Tea Ceremony, *{ngaghtay} Mating Ritual and 
*{tlhoghtay} wedding/marriage ceremony.

"Younger Klingons, while accepting their heritage and observing the ancient 
rites, see some aspects of their elders' behavior and beliefs as, if not 
obsolete, then just old-fashioned." (KGT 133)

"While the conventional phrases used in some rituals are uttered in modern 
Klingon (such as those used in the Rite of Ascension, a ceremony 
symbolizing a young Klingon's attainment of a certain spiritual level), 
those used in a great many others are in a form of {no' Hol} (such as those 
associated with the {bIreqtal} [brek'tal], the ceremony in which the killer 
of the leader of a Klingon house marries the widow and thereby becomes the 
head of the house himself). In these cases, the phrases must be studied and 
memorized by the participants, then repeated back accurately. Improvising 
or paraphrasing is entirely inappropriate. Depending on when the phrases 
for the ritual originated, the words and grammatical constructions may be 
somewhat like or very different from those of modern Klingon." [KGT 11]

There's a section on ceremonies and rituals at 
http://www.startrek.com/library/klingon_databanks.asp?DockingBay=rituals

Someone (I don't remember who) suggested a pun derived from family, 
cultural, societal "ties".

>Homonyms:
>     tay (verb) - be civilized

Qov once made what I thought was an insightful observation about the Klingons:

   "Apparently while our definition of maturity is cities (CIVilization),
   theirs is ritual (nentay, Heghtay, muvtay)."

Cf. also the verbs {SeQ} "be formal/ritualistic/ceremonial", {Hach} "be 
developed" and {'Itlh} "be advanced, highly developed".



--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons