Re: Gol=Kohl
Steven Boozer 
Sun, 10 May 1998 00:27:10 -0500 (CDT)

On Sat, 9 May 1998, Sorahl cha'Sereth hei'T'Rahl wrote:

|Randall stated he heard the word 'gol' on TV.
|Have you, perhaps, not misheard 'kohl'?
|That would make frighteningly good sense, knowing 
|the word 'kohlinahr'. Has anybody seen this episode
|with titles? That might help... well...

AFAIK, the "Mountains of Gol" appear in the script, the captions and in the
novelization of ST: The Motion Picture. Gol has been mentioned subsequently
in TNG and in a couple of the pro-novels but is oddly not listed in the
Okudas' _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_.  According to my notes: 

Gol   GN, name of a mountain range and of a plateau that is home to the
   Kohlinahru. Mt. Seleya is the easternmost peak in the Gol Mountain
   Range. The Ruins of Gol are the historically important abode of the
   Acolytes and the Kohlinahru, or Vulcan Masters (ST:MP). The Stone of Gol
   is an ancient psionic resonator known from mythology. The glyphs of the
   God of War and the God of Death were depicted on its verso, separated by
   the sign for Peace. Legend has it that the Stone was destroyed by the
   gods after the Awakening, but it was actually dismantled with some of
   the pieces stored on Vulcan and some offworld. (Gambit II) The story of
   the rivalry of High Masters of Gol Zakal, Khoteth and Nortakh is told
   in _ST: The Lost Years_.
 
|I also vaguely remember Spock or someone going to 
|Mt. Seleya for 'first kohl'.

Kohl  an early stage in the pursuit of Kohlinahr wherein one concentrates
   on solitude and the self. In _Strangers From the Sky_ (p. 82), Spock
   remembers that High Master T'Sai "had been preparing him for first
   Kohl, where solitude and the listening to one's own soul were All."

|If 'kohl' would mean control, kohlinahr could be 'total control'
|or something like that. That way, a person who has 
|achieved kohlinahr would be a "master of kohl".

Your idea of the words being related, though, is still intriguing. "Gol" 
may be an alternate spelling for, say, "Gohl" which may, in turn, be
related to "Kohl". For all we know, "Kohlinahr" (which is also spelled
"Kolinahr" in STE) may be derived from the place name Gol, the remote
region where the Vulcan Masters were known to live and meditate. 

|The only other word which contains 'nahr' is d'Vel'nahr. 

Venlinahr  the level of mental training achieved by most Vulcan adults.
   This is the mere sublimation or complete repression of emotion, not
   the shedding of all emotion, achieving a state of "total logic" which
   is the goal of Kohlinahr.

Unfortunately, I don't know where this entry comes from.  Does anyone
recognize it?

_________________________________________________________________________
 Steven Boozer    University of Chicago Library    s-boozer*uchicago,edu