Glossary

Note that the terms on this page are derived from actual, RL history and are accurate to the best of my knowledge and research, but I still might have made errors.

See also Human-Dragon Translation.

## Norse

**Althing**: An assembly of free citizens who meet to discuss and vote on laws and legal matters.

**Blót**: Blood sacrifice. Also used to refer to Christian worship from a Norse perspective.

**Carl**: A free man, in contrast to a thrall. Lower in status than a thane.

**Dvergr** (plural **dvergar**): A dwarf, a mythical creature.

**Einvigi**: A duel to the death.

**Ergi**: Unmanliness, effeminacy.

**Frelsis-öl**: Literally “free-neck ale”, translated as “freedom-ale drinking”, ceremony for freeing a thrall and marking their transition to freedman status.

**Gormánuður**: The first month of winter in the Norse calendar; roughly equivalent to late October/early November.

**Holmgang**: A trial by combat taking place on an animal skin spread on the ground (the **holm**).

**Housecarl**: A free man serving as a retainer, servant, or bodyguard to a king or lord, usually with the implication of military service.

**Hulidhshjálmr**: Legendary helm of hiding/invisibility.

**Knarr**: A type of Norse merchant ship.

**Náströnd**: A part of Helheim in Norse mythology, where the dragon **Nidhogg** chews on murderers, adulterers, and oathbreakers.

**Pólútasvarf**: The practice of allowing members of the Varangian Guard to loot the palace upon the death of an emperor.

**Seidhr**: Witchcraft, or a practitioner thereof. The practice of *seidhr* by men has connotations of *ergi*, unmanliness.

**Skraeling**: Native peoples of the Vestrilands and Greenland; Indigenous Americans and Inuit.

**Smokkr**: A type of dress worn by Norse women.

**Sveindómr**: Boyhood, youth; male virginity.

**Thane**: A noble, ranked higher than a carl.

**Thengill**: Nest-lord; usually the largest, oldest, and most powerful dragon in a nest.

**Thrall**: Old Norse: *þræll*. Synonym for slave or serf, used in Western and Northern Europe.

**Valknut**: A symbol made of three interlocking triangles.

**Vestrilands**: Literally "western lands"; the Americas.

**Weregild**: A fine made as legal reparations for an unlawful death at the hands of an offending party to their victim's family or clan.

## Eirish

**Aithech*/*aithecheanna**: Farmers

**Bothach**: Clanless people.

**Brehon/Brehon Laws**: The orally transmitted legal code and law-keepers of Old Ireland.

**Cerd*/*cerdí**: Craftsmen.

**Cóiceda** (singular **cóiced**): Literally “fifths” in Middle/Old Irish, these were the five traditional overkingdoms: Munster, Connacht, Ulaid, Leinster, and Mide.  Lead by a **rí ruírech**, they were constantly engaged in conflict for prestige and attempting to subjugate the others, but remained mostly independent through most of their history, although their territories shifted fairly constantly.

**Cumhal**: Bondsmaids; female thralls.

**Daer-fuidiri**: Debt-thralls, war captives, and other human chattel.

**Dál**: A kingdom, formed of several tuatha.

**Duillín**: Piece of paper used for voting; ballot.

**Fine**: The members of a family living under one roof.

**Flaith**: Aristocrats.

**Fuidir**: Serfs, bound to the land of their lord.

**Gaoidhealg**: Middle Irish, in use in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man from the 10th to 12th centuries.

**Iománaíocht**: A game played with sticks and a ball called a **sliotar**.

**Láech*/*láecheanna**: Warriors.

**Longphort**: A viking settlement with a harbor.

**Ocht-tedach**: An eight-stringed harp.

**Rí:** Literally “King.” Confusingly, the majority of Irish titled aristocracy in ancient Ireland were referred to collectively by this term. Starting in size from the smallest unit to the largest, we begin with the simple **rí** or **ríthe**, which would be the chieftain of the individual villages or homesteads. They were subordinate to the **rí clainne,** the clan chiefs, who ruled over the **trícha cét.** The **rí clainne** would be subordinate to the **rí tuaithe,** the **túath**’s king. The **rí tuaithe**, in turn, would be subordinated to either a **ruirí**, a king of a collection of **túatha**, or directly to the **rí ruírech** (aka **rí coicede**), who is the king of the **cóiceda** itself.

And then, occasionally in history, the **rí ruírech** were themselves subordinated to the **ard rí**, the High King. There was only one recorded High King of all of Ireland, who managed to bring all of the **cóiceda** under his control, Brian Boru, but he died in 1014 at the battle of Clontarf, near Dublin (now IRL a swanky Dublin suburb). While several others tried over the next few centuries before the Norman invasions with some success, there never again was a High King of all of Ireland.

**Rí**: Village king

**Rí clainne**: Clan king

**Rí tuaithe**: Tribe king

**Ruirí**: District king

**Rí ruírech**: Overking

**Ard rí:** High King

**Sen-Cleith**: Personal servants of the Flaith.

**Sept**: First-degree extended family.

**Tigern/Toisech**: “lord” or “leader”, this was the term for a leader of a **Trícha cét** or **Túath** that was not elected, but was instead appointed by a higher king.

**Trícha cét**: Literally “thirty hundreds”, the **trícha cét** were essentially the smallest of the petty kingdoms, composed of (supposedly) one hundred households of thirty people each. The households were either clustered in small villages or dispersed as rural homesteads and small forts. The **trícha cét** was clan-based, and would ally with (or be bound in fealty to) other **trícha cét,** composing a **túath**.

**Túatha**: Literally “people” or “nation”, a **túath** (plural **túatha**) was the traditional Irish clan-based kingdom, below a Cóiceda and above a trícha cét in size and stature. It referred to both the territory, and the people who lived there. At one point in Irish history, they were sovereign (i.e. independent), but were in time bound in fealty to larger groups. The individual **túath** were composed of two to four **trícha cét**, giving them a population of anywhere from 6,000 to 18,000 people. During the 10th and 11th centuries, there were about 150 **túatha** across all of Ireland.

## Hebrew

**Abba**: Father.

**Avodah zora**: Idolatry.

**Bediavad**: After the fact.

**Bein ha-Metzarim**: Literally "between the straits". A period of three weeks in the summer during which Jews mourn the destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.

**Beis Medrash**: House of Learning; a Jewish study hall.

**Beit Din** or **Beth Din**: A Jewish religious court, led by an **Av Beth Din**. A full Beit Din has 23 judges.

**Bimah**: A raised platform in a synagogue from which the Torah is read and the prayer leader speaks.

**Bnei Yisrael**: The Children of Israel; Jews.

**Bodek**: Someone who inspects slaughtered animals, especially the internal organs, to make sure they are kosher.

**Chazakah**: Legal presumption.

**Cherem**: Excommunication and shunning from the Jewish community.

**Din Torah**: A ruling by a Jewish religious court.

**D'var Torah** (pl. **Divrei Torah**): A speech or sermon on the Torah, usually a particular section.

**Eretz Yisrael**: The Land of Israel.

**Eruv**: A wall, boundary, or fence around an area, making all the area inside it "private" for the purposes of carrying objects on Shabbat.

**Gemara**: Commentaries on the **Mishnah**. Together, the Mishnah and Gemara make up the **Talmud**.

**Ger** (plural **gerim**): A convert to Judaism.

**HaKadosh Barukh Hu**: Literally "The Holy One, Blessed be He", a name for God.

**Halacha**: Jewish law.

**Hozaat shem ra**: Spreading of false statements.

**Ivrit**: Hebrew.

**Ketubah**: A Jewish marriage contract.

**Kiddush Hashem**: Literally "sanctifying the name [of God]". Behavior by Jews that reflects well on them as a community.

**Klal Yisrael**: "All of Israel"; the Jewish community as a whole.

**Lashon hara**: Literally "evil tongue" or "evil speech". Truthful but derogatory speech about another person.

**Maariv**: Evening prayers.

**Mechitzah**: A fence or barrier separating the men and women's sections of a synagogue.

**Melech HaMelachim**: Literally "king of kings", a name for God.

**Midrash**: Rabbinic literature interpreting scripture, often also involving expanded or wholly new narratives.

**Mitzrayim**: Egypt.

**Mohar**: Bride-price.

**Nasi**: Prince, but has a meaning closer to "president" than "son of a monarch".

**Olam Hazeh**: "This world"; the material world, as opposed to the afterlife or spiritual world.

**Pasul**: The opposite of kosher; invalid, disqualified, incorrect.

**Pidyon Shvuyim**: Ransoming of captives (i.e. paying ransom to free them).

**Pikuach nefesh**: A principle that the saving of human life takes precedence over almost any other law.

**Posek**: A legal scholar who makes decisions regarding the application of halacha.

**Riboni shel'Olam**: Literally "master of the world/universe", a name for God.

**Semicha**: Ordination of rabbis.

**Sheloshim**: Literally "thirty". A thirty-day period of mourning.

**Shemira**: Watching over a body from death until burial.

**Shiva**: Literally "seven". A weeklong period of mourning and seclusion by the deceased's family immediately following a funeral.

**Shochet**: A Jew who does kosher slaughtering of animals.

**Talmud Torah**: A Jewish school that teaches religious topics.

**Tehillim**: Psalms.

**Tikkun Olam**: Literally "repairing the world". Striving to make the world a better place in accordance with halacha.

**Treif**: Non-kosher.

**Tsedek**: Justice.

**Tzadik**: A righteous person. Jewish tradition holds that there are 36 **tzadikim nistarim** (hidden righteous souls) in the world at any given time, for whose sake God preserves the world, but it is impossible for humans (including the tzadikim themselves) to know who they are.

**Tzedakah**: Giving to the poor and less fortunate. Roughly equivalent to charity, but has a different connotation in Judaism.

**Yeshiva**: A school to teach Jews Torah and halacha.

**Yom Tov**: Literally "good day"; a Jewish holiday, and a greeting said on those days.

## Greek

**Alphadraconis**: Literally "first dragon". The Greek word for nest-lord.

**Cataphract**: Armored heavy cavalry.

**Despoina**: Literally "mistress". Used when addressing an Empress.

**Doux**: A noble rank.

**Koptoplakous**: A candy made of honey, sesame seeds and nuts.

**Kyriaki**: Sunday.

**Pascha**: Easter.

**Plakountas tetyromenous**: Placenta cake, a layered cake of cheese, dough, and honey.

**Práxeis Apostólōn**: Acts of the Apostles; the fifth book of the New Testament.

**Rhētor**: An orator.

**Silentiarius**: A courtier responsible for keeping decorum within the court.

**Spatharokandidatos**: A Byzantine military rank.

**Stratiotika Ktemata**: Lands owned by military personnel and intended to support them and the army.

**Tetarti**: Wednesday.

**Topoteretes**: Deputy commander.

**Tzykanisterion**: A sports field in Constantinople used for playing **tzykanion** (polo), a Persian sport.

## Arabic

**Ahl al-Kitāb**: "People of the Book". A term for Jews and Christians (and sometimes Zoroastrians) used by Muslims.

**Da'wah**: Proselytization of Islam.

**Rizmah**: A bundle of paper numbering 500 sheets.

**Wali**: "Friend of God". An Islamic concept roughly equivalent to a Christian saint. Has connotations of "master", "authority", "custodian", or "protector".

## Saami

**Båatsoe**: Reindeer.

**Gákti**: A type of traditional Saami clothing.

**Siida**: Extended family; clan.

## Anglo-Saxon

**Burh**: English fortified settlement, built to repel Viking raids.

**Herepath**: A military road connecting burhs.

**Thews**: Muscles.

## Chinese

**Fulin**: Roman Empire.

**Li**: A unit of length. It varied over history, but during the Tang dynasty (preceding the Song, who rule China during ATOV), it measured 323 m, or approximately 1060 feet.

**Lingchi**: A torture method, also known as "death by a thousand cuts".

**Taolu**: Martial arts forms and exercise sets.

## Latin

**Latifundium** (plural **latifundia**): A large landed estate devoted to agriculture.

**More danico**: "In the Danish custom"; a type of marriage practiced by some Norse, in which women have few rights.

## Igbo

**Ogbono**: A type of nut eaten in West Africa, or a soup made with it.

## Breton

**Korrigan**: A type of fairy or dwarf.

**Pleg-mor Gwaskogn**: Bay of Biscay.