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. 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.