Architecture Vocabulary

A few weeks after the tenth anniversary qepHom in Saarbrücken in 2011, Marc Okrand revealed a handful of words about architecture and the work being done at a working site. He did this on request of Klingonist Lieven L. Litaer, who is an architect himself. (1)

professions

The word for architect, designer is renwI'. This is made of the verb ren design, map out, plan plus the type 9 suffix -wI' one who does.

The pun behind this word is based on two real architects: First, Christopher Wren (pronounced "ren"), who built St Paul's Cathedral in London. Next, Marc Okrand had held lectures at the "Renwick Gallery" of the Smithsonian Museum, named after the architect James Renwick(2).

Klingon	Type	Translation	Note
mutlh	v.	construct, assemble, put together
mutlhwI'	n.	[untranslated]	A mutlhwI' puts things together. So a ngogh mutlhwI' is not (necessarily) someone who makes bricks, but someone who takes bricks that are already made and assembles them into something (such as a building).
ngogh mutlhwI'	n.	bricklayer
majyang mutlhwI'	n.	tiler
beb mutlhwI'	n.	roofer
'och mutlhwI'	n.	plumber
'ul pat mutlhwI'	n.	electrician
vel	v.	cover, coat, mask	One can say rav vel tlhIm the carpet covers the floor. When you lay a carpet, you don't use the verb mutlh. To say "lay a carpet," use rav velmeH tlhIm lo'.
velwI'	n.	coverer, coater, masker	The person who lays the carpet

construction elements

Klingon	Type	Translation	Note
majyang	n.	tile
ngogh	n.	brick
qatlhDa'	n.	water pipe	The kind that carries water from place to place, not what you use for smoking.
tlhIm	n.	carpet, rug, also: blanket	A tlhIm covers some sort of surface. tlhIm is commonly used for a fabric wall hanging (that might, for example, have a picture of the Klingon emblem on it). If a piece of cloth is displayed at the end of a pole, it is considered a joqwI' flag.
'och	n.	pipe
'ul pat	n.	electric system

Buildings

Klingon	Type	Translation
DuSaQ	n.	school
paq nojwI' qach	n.	library
QIn tum qach	n.	postal office
bo'DIj qach	n.	court house
logh chal je 'angweD qach	n.	planetarium
chalqach	n.	skyscraper

building parts

Klingon	Type	Translation
beb	n.	roof
pa'	n.	room
pa' beb	n.	ceiling of top story room
pa' reD	n.	inside face of outside wall
qach	n.	building, structure
rav	n.	floor
rav'eq	n.	ceiling
tlhoy' SaS	n.	ceiling/floor between stories
yav	n.	ground

See also

• Puns
• Portal vocabulary
• List of words with the word part qach building

References

1 : Message from Maltz of Jan 09, 2012 on qepHom.de

2 : Marc Okrand talking to Lieven L. Litaer, 11 Nov 2011 at qepHom Saarbrücken