The Dictionary
The Story of Klingon
Course 1 · Chapter 3 · The Dictionary
Marc Okrand built the language for the screen, but a language only becomes a language when it is written down so that anyone can check it. In 1985 he did that. The Klingon Dictionary is the single most important document in this story, because it is where Klingon stopped being something an actor said and became something anyone could learn.
The Book in Numbers
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Marc Okrand |
| Publisher | Pocket Books (United States) |
| First published | 1985 |
| Expanded | an addendum in 1992 |
| Length | paperback, 191 pages |
| Vocabulary | about 1,500 words, followed by a list of useful phrases |
| Sales | more than 300,000 copies, according to a 2009 book by Arika Okrent |
A Book Not Written for Learners
The surprising fact is how the book was meant to be used. Wikipedia describes it as "never intended as a learning book": it has no exercises and was originally a guide for scriptwriters and actors. The merchandising for Star Trek fans came later. That helps explain why it is a reference (what the language does) and not a course (how to practise it), and why a whole community later grew up to write the lessons the book never contained.
What Is Inside
Pronunciation
The sounds are written with Latin letters, not phonetic symbols. Upper-case letters mark special sounds: for example q is a voiceless uvular affricate and Q a voiceless uvular plosive.
Grammar
The largest section, organised by word type, with a few examples for each rule. This is the part later covered by Klingon Grammar 1.
Vocabulary and Phrases
Around 1,500 words, then a list of useful phrases. Learners usually met the language through these phrases first.
The 1992 Addendum
By 1992 more Klingon had been spoken in the films and in Star Trek: The Next Generation than the first edition covered. The addendum added new points of grammar and about 200 words from those sources. This is the first example of a pattern that runs through the rest of the course: Okrand adds to the language, and the community keeps track.
Spreading the Book
| Year | Edition |
|---|---|
| 1995 | Portuguese (Brazil), Dicionário da língua klingon |
| 1996 | German; it contained many typos and errors, and a corrected version by Lieven Litaer followed in 2013 |
| 1998 | Italian (Fanucci Editore) |
| 2008 | Czech; e-book versions began the same year |
| 2009 | iPhone app from Simon & Schuster, part of a "Klingon Language Suite" |
| 2024 | Arabic, the first edition to use the Klingon script |
| 2025 | Japanese, with a QR code linking to an online list of newer words |
In popular culture, the dictionary appears in an episode of The Big Bang Theory in a game of Klingon Boggle.
Sources for This Chapter
- Wikipedia, "The Klingon Dictionary" and "Klingon language".
Hands-On Exercises
Give five facts about the 1985 book (author, publisher, year, length, vocabulary size) and say which one you would double-check before quoting.
Explain why a book that "was never intended as a learning book" ended up being how people learned Klingon.
Describe the three parts of the book and what the 1992 addendum added. Then say what pattern the addendum starts.
Quick Reference
- 1985: The Klingon Dictionary, Pocket Books, 191 pages, about 1,500 words.
- Origin: a guide for scriptwriters and actors; no exercises.
- 1992: addendum with new grammar and about 200 words.
- Reach: over 300,000 copies (reported); translated into Portuguese, German, Italian, Czech, Arabic and Japanese.