SoHDaq qeylIS qa' yInjaj May the spirit of Kahless live within you! PK "You truly have the spirit of Kahless within you!" (Martok to Worf, DS9 "By Inferno's Light") qa' wIje'meH maSuv. We fight to enrich the spirit. TKW HeghDI' SuvwI' nargh SuvwI' qa' When a warrior dies, his spirit escapes. TKW TKW 145: "The verb nargh ... means escape, but the same word, or a phonetically identical one, means appear. Thus, perhaps the Klingons are saying that when a warrior dies, his spirit appears, whereas prior to death it was hidden or disguised by the body. Another interpretation is that the spirit was held prisoner by the body. Worf told Jeremy, whose mother had been killed, 'In my tradition, we do not grieve the loss of the body. We celebrate the releasing of the spirit.'" (TKW 145; cf. TNG "The Bonding") narghbe'chugh SuvwI' qa' taH may' If the warrior's spirit has not escaped, the battle is still going on. TKW ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu' when spirits escape from Gre'thor KGT KGT 117: According to mythology, when a dishonored Klingon dies, his or her spirit goes to a place called Gre'thor, there to remain. To speak of spirits escaping from Gre'thor is to speak of an impossibility. The phrase usually follows the statement of what it is that supposedly cannot happen: jIjegh ghe'torvo' narghDI' qa'pu' ("I will surrender when spirits escape from Gre'thor"). qaSDI' nenghep, qa' patlh chu' chav tlhIngan SuvwI' The Age of Ascension marks a new level of spiritual attainment by a Klingon warrior. S9 SuvwI' qa' patlh veb chavlaHmeH tlhIngan lo'chu' chaH. toDujDaj toblu' [They] use the devices [painstiks] to inflict pain in a manner which will allow the Klingon to attain a higher state of spirituality as a warrior, proving his mettle. S32 qa'lI' quv yIpab Follow the honor in your spirit PB Daq HopHa'Daq qa'chaj nejlI' qotar Qempa'QeH je Not far away, Kotar and his *Qempa'keh*, are in search for their souls. PB qa'pu' mIgh DevwI' Leader of evil spirits! PB qa' qo'Daq ghomqa' chaH 'ej nItebHa' Suv chaH 'e' Sov luqara' And Lukara knew they would meet again. Fighting side by side in an underworld PB After the spirit has departed the body, Klingon warriors consider the corpse to be only an "empty shell", to be disposed of accordingly (cf. TNG "Heart of Glory").] TKW KGT 117: Note that the word for spirit, qa', takes the plural suffix -pu', which is used for beings capable of using language. Spirits do speak. st.klingon (7/19/1999): the plural of Qun [god, supernatural being] is Qunpu' since they are or were presumably capable of using language, which is what the plural suffix -pu' implies ... Qunpu' are distinct from qa'pu' "spirits" (such as the spirits of the dishonored dead which reside at Gre'thor). MO to Lieven (11/23?/2008): nIyma' is the Klingon word for phantom or apparition--something that seems to appear, but isn't really there. It's not the same as ghost, which is the spirit of a dead person (and may or may not look like that person, or may not be visible at all), and it's not the same as spirit (or qa'), which is sort of a life force within a person (that escapes when a person dies and may exist somewhere somehow). He said using qa' for ghost was OK, but I got the impression there may be another word as well (though he didn't offer one). KCD: Vok says, "The celebration was declared a lopno'. You have invited all the spirits of our Klingon ancestors." KLS: According to Klingon legend, when honed sharp enough [a bat'leth] can separate a man from his soul. SEE ALSO: yab mind, intellect (n) QIb shadow (n) *lomqa' ghost (n) (TKH & KBTP)