From: "Marc Okrand" [email protected]
Newsgroups: msn.onstage.startrek.expert.okrand
Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 13:15:40 -0700
Subject: Re: family names

[email protected] wrote in article 01bca1fe$094ae680$a5002299@default...
Dr. Okrand,

I would like to know the proper way to express a Klingon's name using the
name of his house. For example, I have created a character named qeylor
whose father is named qeylIn. They are from the House of Molor. What
are the proper ways for qeylor to identify himself? If I were using
English, I would have him say, "I am Kahlor from the House of Molor." I
can also imagine that if spoken to in a formal manner, he might be
addressed as "Kahlor, son of Kahlin, from the House of Molor." Does this
simply become qeylor, qeylIn puqloD, molor tuq? What does Matlz say?

Deborah

According to Maltz, there are at least a couple of ways to identify a
Klingon's house (or tuq).

One way is the way you suggested. To say "Kahlor of the House of Molor"
(or, if you prefer, "Kahlor from the House of Molor"), you'd say simply
"Kahlor, House of Molor":

qeylor molor tuq

If you want to be even more formal, the name of the father may be used as
well -- again, as you suggested. "Kahlor, son of Kahlin, of the House of
Molor" is "Kahlor, son of Kahlin, House of Molor":

qeylor qeylIn puqloD molor tuq

The other way is actually more formal and a bit formulaic. To say "Kahlor
is of the House of Molor" (or "Kahlor is from the House of Molor"), you
could say:

tay' qeylor molor tuq je

This is literally "Kahlor and the House of Molor are together" (tay' "be
together," je "and"). The construction is no doubt based on the Klingon
proverb "One is always of his tribe" (literally, "a person and his house
are always together"):

reH tay' ghot tuqDaj je

(reH "always," ghot "person," tuqDaj "his/her house")

If Kahlor is speaking, he could say, "I am of the House of Molor":

matay' jIH molor tuq je

Or if one were speaking to Kahlor, one could say, "You are of the House of
Molor":

Sutay' SoH molor tuq je

Literally, these are "The House of Molor and I are together" (matay' "we
are together," jIH "I," molor tuq "House of Molor," je "and"), "The
House of Molor and you are together" (Sutay' "you are together,"
SoH "you"). The independent pronouns (jIH "I" and SoH "you" in the
examples above) are always used in this construction.