ehs, pl. ehsim: (ACE) cubed measurement approximately 10 inches.
elethia: (el-eh-THEE-ya) honor, gentility, sensitivity to proper behavior; faithfulness to duty.
Esliph: (EHS-lif) the Seven Stars: a heavily planeted region lying between the metrosi and human space.
giyre: (GIU-rey) recognition of one’s proper place in the cosmic Order of things; also, one’s proper duty toward another. It is ideally mutual.
Halliran Idai: (hah-lee-HRAN ee-DYE) the Free Union, the political structure of the metrosi, the capital of which is Aus Qao, the fifth of Qao.
ikas: (EE-kas) disregarding of giyre and kastien: presumptuous.
kallia (KAL-lee-ah) man, woman; men, women.
kamesule: (kah-MAY-soo-leh) to associate with the iduve; to be servile of manner.
kastien: (KAHS-tee-yen) being oneself; virtue, wisdom; observing harmony with others and the universe by perfect centering in one’s giyre toward all persons and things.
marithe: (mah-REE-theh) a pale-pink wine.
men, pl. meis: (MEN, MACE) a linear measurement of approximately 10 inches.
metrosi: (MAY-tro-see) the Civilized Worlds, those within the original area of kalliran-amaut colonization.
Orithain: (o-rih-THAIN) mistakenly used as generic term for the iduve.
parome: (PAHR-ohm) governor of an arethme
Qao: (KHUA-o) the Sun; home star of the kalliran species.
II
THE IDUVE LANGUAGE: differs from both kalliran and human speech to such a degree that translation cannot be made literally if it is to be understandable. Paraphrase is the best that can be done.
First, there is no clear distinction between the concepts of noun and verb, between solid and action. Reality consists instead of the situational combination of Tangibles and Ethicals; but an Ethical may be converted to a Tangible and vice versa. Most ideas are grammatically complete in two words: an Ethical is affixed to the Tangible. Meanings may be altered or augmented by Prefix, Infix, or Suffix upon either Ethical or Tangible. The nature of these added particles may be: Negative, Intensitive, Honorific, Hypothetical, Interrogative, Imperative, Directional, Futuritive or Historical, Relational or Descriptive.
Second: the language has only scant designation of gender. It is impossible to distinguish sex save by adding the male Honorific -toj or the female Honorific -tak to the word in question. Concepts which would seem to make gender distinction inevitable (man, woman, mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife) exist only as artificial constructs in the iduve language.
In the pronunciations given below, an asterisk (*) indicates a guttural sibilant produced by -kk or -kh-: a throat-sounded hiss resembling a soft kh.
akites, akitomei: (ah-kee-TEHS) a Voyaging Ship
akitemekkhe: (ah-kee-toh-MEK*-heh) worldbound; having bond to person or place outside the nasul.
akkhres-nasuli (AK*-hress-NAH-su-lee) joining of two akitomei for the purpose of kata-sakke among the members of both clans.
anoikhte: (ah-noik*-TEH) bondless; not “free” (akita) but “loose,” and therefore fair game for m’melakhia, q.v. Manlings (m’metanei) cannot enjoy arrhei-akita; by their very terrestrial natures they are akitomekkhe and therefore limited in their sensitivities.
arastiethe: (ah-rahs-tee-AY-theh) honor; the power and burden of being iduve, of being of a particular nasul, or simply of being oneself. Honor is the obligation to use power, even against personal preference, to maintain moral and physical integrity. M’metanei naturally possess no arastiethe, but to describe admirable traits in m’metanei, the iduve have adopted the kalliran word elethia.
arrhei-akita: (AH-hrrey-ah-kee-TAH) being free; an ethical necessity for the happiness and arastiethe of the nasul; especially, the free range of their ship.
arrhei-nasul: (AH-hrrey-nah-SOOL) leaving clan, usually for kataberihe with another’s Orithain. Doing so for any other reason is to invite violence from the receiving clan. Not the same as arrhei-nasuli (AH-hrrey-nah-su-LEE), which is exile from all the Kindred, equal to a death sentence.
Ashanome: (ah-SHAH-no-may)
asuthe, asuthi: (ah-SOOTH, ah-su-THEE) lit.: companion. A person linked to another by chiabres.
asuthithekkhe: (ah-su-thi-THEK*-heh) mental linkage.
Chaganokh: (cHag-ah-NOKH*)
chanokhia: (cHan-ok*-HEE-ah) artistry; (2) as an Ethical: the practice of virtue, the studied avoidance of crudity, and a searching after elegance and originality.
chiabres: (cHee-AH-bress) internal device for communication.
dhis: (d*eesss) lit.: nest. A communal em-bryonics laboratory and nursery for the nasul. Children leave at maturity.
dhisais, dhisaisei: (d*EE-sice) female driven to temporary madness by biological changes at childbirth; may last years.
e-: (ay) negative prefix: not, un-.
ghiaka, ghiakai: (zhee-AH-kah) curved sword, now ceremonial.
harachia: (ha-rak*-HEE-yah) lit: presence, seeing. Visual impact of a person, thing, or situation which elicits an irrational emotional response.