[93948] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: [Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: pIn
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Boozer)
Tue Jul 3 10:25:50 2012
From: Steven Boozer <sboozer@uchicago.edu>
To: "tlhingan-hol@kli.org" <tlhingan-hol@kli.org>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 14:25:30 +0000
In-Reply-To: <9f00441e8dc1dfbca8f3d85ba2068fe4@localhost.localdomain>
Errors-To: tlhingan-hol-bounces@stodi.digitalkingdom.org
> Klingon word: pIn
> Part of speech: noun
> Definition: boss
AFAIK never used in a sentence.
KGT 158-59: The word {pIn} is literally "boss". In its slang sense, it is never used alone but always in constructions such as {'Iw HIq pIn} (expert on bloodwine, somebody who knows all about bloodwine; literally, "bloodwine boss"). The word {pIn} is also found in nonslang terms referring to crew members on a ship: {QeDpIn} (science officer), {QumpIn} (communications officer). It is not known whether these words originated as slang and became accepted as the regular terms or whether the use of {pIn} in the sense of expert, authority was modeled after the words {QeDpIn} and {QumpIn}. Note that for the crew terms, in one case {pIn} follows a noun ({QeD}, "science" thus, {QeDpIn} is "science boss"), but in the other, it follows what is found elsewhere only as a verb ({Qum}, "communicate"), suggesting that there may have been a noun {Qum} ("communication") at some point in the past. The nonslang term for an expert is {po'wI'} (literally, "one who is expert, skilled").
Add to this list {jonpIn} "engineering officer" and {nuHpIn} "weapons officer".
*{pab pIn} is used by the KLI for "grammarian" and *{HolpIn} for "linguistics officer" (i.e. {tlhIngan Hol} expert of a fan club).
I've seen *{HungpIn} "Head of Security, Chief of Security, Security Officer", *{luchpIn} "quartermaster" and *{to'pIn} "tactical officer" used on this list. (The latter is a known Klingon post: The IKC Pagh had an (unnamed) "tactics officer" on the bridge [TNG "A Matter of Honor"] and Worf served briefly as tactical officer aboard the IKC Hegh'ta during the Klingon Civil War of 2367-68 [TNG "Redemption I & II"].)
Qov once used *{matlhpIn} for "secret policeman, chekist".
Related words:
pIn tlhoy' territorial wall
pIn'a' master
Note that {maHpIn}, a large bowl used for serving food, is apparently unrelated (cf. KGT p.205 and p.99f.).
--
Voragh
Ca'Non Master of the Klingons
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