Okrand then confirmed the Klingon spelling for those words: tay veStay Sutay 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. From Marc Okrand, to the qepHom 2014: Maltz actually had a bit more to add (though he didn't answer all questions). He said he knew something about all of the titles but one. Whether his understanding of them is based on what they really mean (or, more correctly, historically meant) or are just "folk etymologies" (etymologies made up after the fact that "make sense" to speakers but don't really have anything to do with where the words come from) is not clear. He didn't provide any information on how these titles are used or the like, but he said he had heard all of them. In any case, here's what he said: Sutay was the one honorific he wasn't sure about. He said he'd heard it had something to do with readiness or preparedness, as reflected in Su' and SuH, alternate forms of an exclamation meaning Ready! or Standing by! But he really didn't know. veStay is related to veS war, warfare, so it's clearly a fitting honorific for a Klingon. Santay, he said, is related to SanID thousand. Maltz said that he heard that an older form of this honorific was SanIDtay but over time, it was shortened. But he also heard that Santay really comes from the Krotmag dialect's pronunciation of SaD, an alternate form for thousand, which sounds to most non-Krotmag Klingons more like San (though the final consonant is not quite an n). He noted that because of the changes in pronunciation, many Klingons aren't aware of the connection to thousand and think that the title has something to do with San fate. Maltz said this wasn't correct. Despite all of that, he wasn't sure about the significance of thousand. He thought it might just be a high number, reflecting a high rank, but the fact that the other honorifics have nothing to do with numbers casts doubt on his theory. 'Iptay is related to 'Ip oath (and there's also a verb 'Ip meaning swear, vow). One's honor is at stake when making a vow or swearing an oath, so he thought this also was a very appropriate honorific.