The word for "actor"

For a long time, there existed no canon word to describe an actor. During the translation process of Hamlet, the translators of the KSRP decided to use the verb Da behave as in combination with the type 9 verb suffix -wI' someone who does. The found word DawI' literally means "someone/person who does behave as someone else".

When the verb ghet pretend was revealed in 2003, it seemed obvious to some people that this would be the better choice to create a noun ghetwI' for actor, since the description said that ghet and ghetwI' pretender generally do not imply deception, but simply role-playing. (1)

Nevertheless, Marc Okrand has used the word DawI' in his message to Kronos, admitting that he had gotten it from the Klingon Hamlet. When asked about which word was correct or if there was a difference in meaning, he only said that it was interesting that there seemed to be two words. (2).

So, while there is room to argue whether ghetwI' would be better, DawI' is an established, and thus acceptable, term.

The announcement of the Klingon actors for Star Trek: Discovery used the word ghetwI', although the phrase provided by Lawrence M. Schoen used the word DawI'.

See also

• Klingon speaking actors
• list of actors

References

1 : HolQeD v12n3, September 2003

2 : Message by Jeremy Cowan to the mailing list of 05 July 2017, reporting talking to Okrand in December 2016