I have taken from the appendices of Dune the glossary of the terminology used in the book. All I did with them was rearrange them into a more coherent order instead of keeping the usual alphabetical order. I have also broken them up into several categories.
Faufreluches: The rigid rule of class distinction enforced by the Imperium. "A place for every man and every man in his place."
House: An idiomatic for Ruling Clan of a planet or planetary system.
mentat: That class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments of logic. "Human computers."
pyons: Planet-bound peasants or laborers, one of the base classes under the Faufreluches. Legally: wards of the planet.
maula: Slave.
Houses Major: Holders of planetary fiefs; interplanetary entrepeneurs.
Houses Minor: Planet-bound entrepeneur class.
House of Ginaz: One-time allies of Duke Leto Atreides. They were defeated in the War of Assassins with Grumman.
na-: A prefix meaning "nominated" or "next in line." Thus na-Baron means heir apparent to a Barony.
demibrothers: Sons of concubines in the same household and certified as having the same father.
cousines: Blood relations beyond cousins.
Great Convention: The universal truce enforced under the power balance maintained by the Guild, the Great Houses, and the Imperium. Its chief rule prohibits the use of atomic weapons against human targets. Each rule of the Great Convention begins: "The forms must be obeyed..."
High Council: The Landsraad inner circle empowered to act as supreme tribunal in House to House disputes.
kanly: Formal feud or vendetta under the rules of the Great Convention carried on according to the strictist limitations. (See Judge of the Change.) Originally the rules were designed to protect innocent bystanders.
Dictum Familia: That rule of the Great Convention that prohibits the slaying of a royal person or member of a Great House by informal treachery. The rule sets up the formal outline and limits the means of assassination.
War of Assassins: The limited form of warfare permitted under the Great Convention and the Guild Peace. The aim is to reduce involvement of innocent bystanders. Rules prescribe formal declarations of intent and restrict permissable weapons.
Assassins' Handbook: Third century compilation of poisons commonly used in a War of Assassins. Later expanded to include those deadly devices permitted under the Guild Peace and Great Convention.
Judge of the Change: An official appointed by the Landsraad High Council and the Emperor to monitor a change of fief, a kanly negotiation, or formal battle in a War of Assassins. The Judge's arbitral authority may be challenged only before the High Council with the Emperor present.
Proces Verbal: A semiformal report alleging a crime against the Imperium. Legally: an action falling between a loose verbal allegation and a formal charge of crime.
Noukkers: Officers of the Imperial bodyguard who are related to the Emperor by blood. Traditional rank for sons of royal concubines.
Sardaukar: the soldier-fanatics of the Padishah Emperor. They were men from an environmental background of such ferocity that it killed six out of thirteen persons before the age of eleven. Their military training emphasized ruthlessness and a near-suicidal disregard for personal safety. They were taught from infancy to use cruelty as a standard weapon, weakening opponents with terror. At the apex of their sway over the affairs of the Universe, their swordsmanship was said to match that of a Ginaz tenth level and their cunning abilities at in-fighting were reputed to approach that of a Bene Gesserit adept. Any one of them was rated a match for any ten Landsraad military conscripts. By the time of Shaddam IV, while they were still formidable, their strength had been sapped by overconfidence, and the sustaining mystique of their warrior religion had been deeply undermined by cynicism.
Caid: Sardaukar officer rank given to an official whose duties call mostly for dealings with civilians; a military governorship over a full planetary district; above the rank of Bashar but not equal to a Burseg.
Bashar (Colonel Bashar): An officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for a military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title strictly reserved for military use.)
Burseg: a commanding general of the Sardaukar
Imperial Legion: Ten brigades (about 30,000 men).
Guild: The Spacing Guild, one leg of the political tripod maintaining the Great Convention. The Guild was the second mental-physical training school (see Bene Gesserit) after the Butlerian Jihad. The Guild monopoly on space travel and transport and upon international banking is taken as the beginning point of the Imperial Calendar.
Galach: Official language of the Imperium. It is a hybrid Inglo-Slavic with strong traces of cultural-specialization terms adopted during the long chain of human migrations.
battle language: any special language of restricted etymology developed for clear-speach communication in warfare.
Bhotani Jib: See Chakobsa
Chakobsa: The so-called "magnetic language" derived in part from the ancient Bhotani (Bhotani Jib--jib meaning dialect). A collection of ancient dialects modified by needs of secrecy, but chiefly the hunting language of the Bhotani, the hired assassins of the first Wars of Assassins.
solari: Official monetary unit of the Imperium, its purchasing power set at quatricentennial negotiations between the Guild, the Landsraad, and the Emperor.
Imperial Conditioning: A development of the Suk Medical Schools: the highest conditioning against taking human life. Initiates are marked by a diamond tattoo on the forehead and are permitted to wear their hair long and bound by a silver Suk ring.
Pyretic conscience: The so-called "conscience of fire"; that inhibitory level touched by Imperial conditioning. (See Imperial Conditioning.)
razzia: A semipiratical guerilla raid.
selamlik: Imperial audience chamber.
Zensunni: Followers of a schismatic sect that broke away from the teachings of Maometh (the so-called "Third Muhammed") about 1381 B.G. The Zensunni religion is noted chiefly for its emphasis on the mystical and a reversion to "the ways of the fathers." Most scholars name Ali Ben Ohashi as leader of the original schism but there is some evidence that Ohashi may have merely been the male spokesman for his second wife, Nisai.
Butlerian Jihad: The crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. It's chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."
Great Revolt: Common term for the Butlerian Jihad.
Battle of Corrin: The space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. The battle fought near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. settled the ascendancey of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus.
crushers: Military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on an enemy position, crushing it.
troop carrier: Any Guild ship designed specifically for transport of troops between planets.
monitor: A ten-section space warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component parts for lift-off after planet-fall.
frigate: Largest spaceship that can be grounded on a planet and taken off in one piece.
heighliner: Major cargo carrier for the Spacing Guild's transportation system.
ornithopter (commonly, `thopter): Any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds.
dump boxes: The general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equiped with ablation surfaces and a suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet's surface.
defensive shield: The protective field produced by a Holtzman generator. This field derives from Phase One of the suspensor-nullification effect. A shield will permit entry only to objects moving at slow speeds (depending on setting, this speed ranges from six to nine centimeters per second) and can be shorted out only by a shire-sized electric field. (See lasgun.)
Holtzman Effect: The negative repelling effect of a shield generator.
suspensor: A secondary (low-drain) phase of a Holtzman field generator. It nullifies gravity within certain limits prescribed by relative mass and energy consumption.
lasgun: A continuous-wave laser projector. Its use as a weapon is limited in a field-generator-shield culture because of the explosive pyrotechnics (technically, subatomic fusion) created when a beam intersects a shield.
pentashield: A five-layer shield-generator field suitable for small areas such as doorways and passages (large reinforcing shields become increasingly unstable with each successive layer) and virtually impassable to anyone not wearing a dissembler attuned to the shield codes. (See prudence door.)
prudence door or prudence barrier (idiomatically: pru-door or pru-barrier: Any pentashield situated for the escape of selected persons under the conditions of pursuit. (see pentashield.)
fan metal: Metal formed by the growing of jasmium crystals in duraluminum; noted for extreme tensile strength in relationship to weight. The name derives from its common use in collapsible structures that are opened by "fanning" them out.
metaglass: glass grown as a high-temperature gas infusion in sheets of jasmium quartz. Noted for extreme tensile strength (about 450,000 kilos per square centimeter at two centimeters thickness) and capacity as a selective radiation filter.
plasteel: Steel which has been stabilized by stravidium fibers grown into its crystal structure.
shigawire: Metallic extrusion of a ground vine (Narvi narviium) grown only on Salusa Secundus and III Delta Kaising. It is noted for extreme tensile strength.
ego-likeness: A portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is capable of reproducing subtle movements said to convey the ego-essence.
film book: Any shigawire imprint used in training and carrying a mnemonic pulse.
minimic film: Shigawire of one-micron diameter often used to transmit espionage and counterespionage data.
solido: The three-dimensional image from a solido prjector using 360 degree reference signals imprinted on a shigawire reel. Ixian solido projectors are commonly considered the best.
cone of silence: The field of a distorter that limits the carrying power of the voice or any other vibrator by damping the vibrations with an image-vibration 180 degrees out of phase.
cutteray: A short-range version of a lasgun used mostly as a cutting tool and a surgeon's scalpel.
distrans: A device for producing a temporary neural imprint on the nervous system of Chiroptera or birds. The creature's normal cry then carries the message imprint which can be sorted from that carrier wave by another distrans.
glowglobe: A suspensor-buoyed illuminating device, self-powered (usually by organic batteries).
hunter-seeker: A ravening sliver of suspensor-buoyed metal guided as a weapon by a nearby control console; common assassination device.
maula pistol: A spring-loaded gun for firing poisoned darts; range about forty meters.
oil lens: Hufhuf oil held in static tension by an enclosing force field within a viewing tube as part of a magnifying or other light-manipulation system. Because each lens element can be adjusted individually one micron at a time, the oil lens is considered the ultimate in accuracy for manipulating visible light.
palm lock: Any lock or seal which may be opened on contact with the palm of the human hand to which it has been keyed.
paracompass: Any compass that determines direction by local magnetic anomaly; used where relevant charts are available and where a planet's total magnetic field is unstable or subject to masking by severe magnetic storms.
servok: A clock-set mechanism to perform simple tasks: one of the limited "automatic" devices permitted after the Butlerian Jihad.
poison snooper: Radiation analyzer within the olfactory spectrum and keyed to detect poisonous substances.
stunner: A slow-pellet projectile weapon throwing a poison- or drug-tipped dart. Its effectiveness is limited by variations in shield settings and relative motion between target and projectile.
Bene Gesserit: The ancient school of mental and physical training established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyed the so-called "thinking machines" and robots.
Bene Gesserit Way: The use of the minutiae of observation.
Reverend Mother: A proctor of the Bene Gesserit, one who has transformed an "illuminating poison" within her body, raising herself to a higher state of awareness.
Proctor Superior: A Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who is also a regional director of a Bene Gesserit school. (Commonly: Bene Gesserit with the Sight.)
Truthsayer: A Reverend Mother qualified to enter into truthtrance and detect insincerity or falsehood.
Missionaria Protectiva: The arm of the Bene Gesserit order charged with sowing infectious superstitions on primitive worlds, thus opening up those regions to exploitation by the Bene Gesserit.
Panoplia Propheticus: Term covering the infectious superstitions used by the Bene Gesserit to exploit primitive regions. (see Missionaria Protectiva.)
Shari-A: That part of the Panoplia Propheticus which sets forth the superstitious ritual. (see Missionaria Protectiva.)
Canto and Respondu: An invocation rite, part of the panoplia propheticus of the Missionaria Protectiva.
Dark Things: Idiomatic for the infectious superstitions taught by the Missionaria Protectiva to susceptible civilizations.
Kwisatz Haderach: "Shortening of the Way." This is the label applied by the Bene Gesserit to the unknown for which they sought a genetic solution: a male Bene Gesserit whose organic mental powers would bridge space and time.
Training: When applied to Bene Gesserit, this otherwise common term assumes special meaning, referring to that conditioning of nerve and muscle (see Bindu and Prana) which is carried to the last possible notch permitted by natural function.
Prana (Prana-musculature): The body's muscles when considered as units for ultimate training. (see Bindu).
Bindu: Relating to the human nervous system, especially to nerve-training. Often expressed as Bindu-nervature. (see Prana).
Bindu-suspension: A special form of catalepsis, self-induced.
T-P: Idiomatic for telepathy.
Truthtrance: Semihypnotic trance induced by one of several "awareness spectrum" narcotics in which the petite betrayals of deliberate falsehood are apparent to the truthtrance observer. (Note: "awareness spectrum" narcotics are frequently fatal except to desensitized individuals capable of transforming the poison-configuration within their own bodies.)
Voice: That combined training originated by the Bene Gesserit which permits an adept to control others merely by selected tone shadings of the voice.
uroshnor: One of several sounds empty of general meaning and which Bene Gesserit implant within psyches of selected victims for purposes of control. The sensitized person, hearing the sound, is temporarily immobilized.
Amtal or Amtal Rule: A common rule on primitive worlds in which something is tested to determine its limits or defects. Commonly: testing to destruction.
Great Mother: The horned goddess, the female principle of space (commonly: Mother Space), the feminine face of the male-female-neuter trinity accepted as Supreme Being by many religions within the Imperium.
Orange Catholic Bible: The "Accumulated Book," the religious text produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators. It contains elements of the most ancient religions, including the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism, and Buddhislamic traditions. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: "Thou shalt not disfigure the soul."
Sirat: The passage in the O.C. Bible that describes human life as a journey across a narrow bridge (the Sirat) with "Paradise on my right, Hell on my left, and the Angel of Death behind."
giudichar: A holy truth. (Commonly seen in the expression Giudichar mantene: an original and supporting truth.)
mantene: underlying wisdom, supporting argument, first principle. (see Giudichar.)
karama: A miracle; an action initiated by the spirit world.
Caladan: Third planet of Delta Pavonis; birthworld of Paul Muad'Dib.
Chusuk: Fourth planet of Theta Shalish; the so-called "Music Planet" noted for the quality of its musical instruments. (See VAROTA.)
Giedi Prime: The planet of Ophiuchi B (36), homeworld of House Harkonnen. A median-viable planet with a low active photosynthesis range.
Ecaz: Fourth planet of Alpha Centauri B; the sculptor's paradise, so called because it is the home of fogwood, the plant growth capable of being shaped in situ solely by the power of human thought.
Gamont: Third planet of Niushe; noted for its hedonistic culture and exotic sexual practices.
Grumman: Second planet of Niushe, noted chiefly for the feud of its ruling house (Moritani) with House Ginaz.
Hagal: the "Jewel Planet" (II Theta Shaowei), mined out in the time of Shaddam I (482-548 AG; 549-553 AG).
Ix: see Richese
Richese: Fourth planet of Eridani A, classed with Ix as supreme in machine culture. Noted for miniaturization.
Tleilax: Lone planet of Thalim, noted as a renegade training center for Mentats; source of "twisted" Mentats.
Tupile: So-called "sanctuary planet" (probably several planets) for defeated Houses of the Imperium. Location(s) known only to the Guild and maintained inviolate under the Guild Peace.
Wallach IX: Ninth planet of Laoujin, site of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit.
Poritrin: Third planet of Epsilon Alangue, considered by many Zensunni Wanderers as their planet of origin, although clues in their language and mythology show far more ancient planetary roots.
Salusa Secundus: Third planet of Gamma Waiping; designated Imperial Prison Planet after the removal of the Royal Court to Kaitain. Salusa Secundus is the homeworld of House Corrino, and the second stopping point in the migrations of the Wandering Zensunni. Fremen tradition says they were slaves on S.S. for nine generations.
Bela Tegeuse: Fifth planet of Keuntsing; third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration.
Harmonthep: Ingsley gives this as the planet name for the sixth stop in the Zensunni migration. It is supposed to be a no longer existing satellite of Delta Pavonis.
Arrakis: The planet known as Dune; third planet of Canopus.
Coriolis Storm: Any major sand storm on Arrakis where winds across the open flatlands are amplified by the planet's own revolutionary motion to reach speeds up to 700 kilometers per hour.
El-Sayal: The "rain of sand." A fall of dust which has been carried to medium altitude (around 2,000 meters) by a coriolis storm. El-Sayals frequently bring moisture to ground level.
Bled: Flat, open desert.
Erg: An extensive dune area, a sea of sand.
Gare: A butte.
Graben: A long geological ditch formed when the ground sinks because of movements in the underlying crustal layers.
Pan: On Arrakis, any low-lying region or depression created by the subsiding of the underlying basement complex. (On planets with sufficient water, a pan indicates a region once covered by open water. Arrakis is believed to have at least one such area, although this remains open to argument.)
Sink: A habitable lowland area on Arrakis surrounded by high ground that protects it from prevailing storms.
Dust Chasm: Any deep crevasse or depression on the desert of Arrakis that has been filled with dust not apparently different from the surrounding surface; a deadly trap because human or animal will sink in it and smother. (see Tidal Dust Basin.)
Sandtide: Idiomatic for a dust tide: the variation in level within certain dust-filled basins on Arrakis due to gravitational effects of sun and sattelites. (see Tidal Dust Basin)
Tidal Dust Basin: Any of the extensive depressions in the surface of Arrakis which have been filled with dust over the centuries and in which actual dust tides (see Sandtide) have been measured.
Drum Sand: Impaction of sand in such a way that any sudden blow against its surface produces a distinct drum sound.
Shield Wall: A mountainous geographic feature in the northern reaches of Arrakis which protects a small area from the full force of the planet's coriolis storms.
Rimwall: Second upper step of the protecting bluffs on the Shield Wall of Arrakis.
Dune Men: Idiomatic for open sand workers, spice hunters, and the like on Arrakis. Sandworkers. Spiceworkers.
kulon: The wild ass of Terra's Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis.
literjon: A one-liter container for transporting water on Arrakis; made of high density , shatter-proof plastic with positive seal.
Sinkchart: Map of the Arrakis surface laid out with reference to the most reliable paracompass routes between places of refuge. (See Paracompass).
qanat: An open canal for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions through a desert.
windtrap: A device placed in the path of a prevailing wind and capable of precipitating moisture from the air caught within it, usually by a sharp and distinct drop in temperature within the trap.
weather scanner: A person trained in the special methods of predicting weather on Arrakis, including the ability to pole the sand and read the wind patterns.
poling the sand: The art of placing plastic and fiber poles in the open desert wastes of Arrakis and reading the patterns etched on the poles by sandstorms as a clue to weather prediction.
First Moon: The major satellite of Arrakis, first to rise in the night; notable for a distinct human fist pattern on its surface.
Second Moon: The smaller of the two satellites of Arrakis, noteworthy for the kangaroo mouse figure on its surface markings.
Arrakeen: First settlement on Arrakis; long-time seat of planetary government.
fai: The water tribute, chief specie of tax on Arrakis.
ikhut-eigh!: Cry of the water-seller on Arrakis (etymology uncertain). See SOO-SOO SOOK!
soo-soo sook!: Water-seller's cry on Arrakis. Sook is a market place. (See IKHUT-EIGH!)
Spice: see Melange.
Melange: The "spice of spices," the crop for which Arrakis is the unique source. The spice, chiefly noted for its geriatric qualities, is mildly addictive when taken in small quantities, severely addictive when imbibed in quantities above two grams daily per seventy kilos of body weight. (See Ibad, Water of Life, and Pre-spice Mass.) Muad'Dib claimed the spice as a key to his prophetic powers. Guild navigators make similar claims. Its price on the Imperial market has ranged as high as 620,000 solaris the decagram.
sandworm: see Shai-hulud.
Little Maker: The half-plant-half-animal deep-sand vector of the Arrakis sandworm. The Little Maker's excretions form the pre-spice mass.
pre-spice mass: The stage of fungasoid wild growth achieved when water is flooded into the excretions of Little Makers. At this stage, the spice of Arrakis forms a characteristic "blow," exchaning the material from deep underground for the matter on the surface above it. This mass, after exposure to sun and air, becomes melange. (See also Melange and Water of Life.)
spicemaster: General superintendent of spice operations.
spicedriver: Any Dune man who controls and directs movable machinery on the desert surface of Arrakis.
sandcrawler: General term for machinery designed to operate on the Arrakis surface in hunting and collecting melange.
harvester or harvester factory: A large (often 120 meters by 40 meters) spice mining machine commonly employed on rich, uncontaminated melange blows. (Often called a "crawler" because of buglike body and independent tracks.)
spice factory: see Sandcrawler.
spotter control: The light ornithopter in a spice-hunting group charged with control of watch and protection.
Gridex plane: A differential-charge separator used to remove sand from the melange spice mass; a device of the second stage in spice refining.
stillsuit: Body-enclosing garment invented on Arrakis. Its fabric is a micro-sandwhich performing functions of heat dissipation and filter for bodily wastes. Reclaimed moisture is made available by tube from catchpockets.
filt-plug: A nose filter unit worn with a stillsuit to capture moisture from the exhaled breath.
recaths: Body-functions tubes linking the human waste disposal system to the cycling filters of a stillsuit.
catchpocket: Any stillsuit pocket where filtered water is caught and stored.
watertube: Any tube within a stillsuit or stilltent that carries reclaimed water into a catchpocket or from the catchpocket to the wearer.
repkit: Repair and replacement essentials for a stillsuit.
stilltent: A small, sealable enclosure of micro-sandwhich fabric designed to reclaim as potable water the ambient moisture discharghed within it by the breath of its occupants.
sandsnork: Breathing device for pumping surface air into a sandcovered stilltent.
Fremkit: Desert survival kit of Fremen manufacture.
Fremen: The free tribes of Arrakis, dwellers in the desert, remnants of the Zensunni Wanderers. ("Sand Pirates" according to the Imperial Dictionary.)
FREMEN CLOTHING
aba: Loose robe worn by Fremen women, usualy black.
bourka: Insulated mantle worn by Fremen in the open desert.
jubba cloak: The all-purpose cloak (it can be set to reflect or admit radiant heat, converts to a hammock or shelter) commonly worn over a stillsuit on Arrakis.
nezhoni scarf: The scarf-pad worn at the forehead beneath the stillsuit hood by married or "associated" Fremen women after birth of a son.
FREMEN CULTURE
aql: The test of reason. Originally, the "Seven Mystic Questions" beginning: "Who is it that thinks?"
ayat: The signs of life. (See BURHAN.)
Bakka: In Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind.
bedwine: See ICHWAN BEDWINE.
burhan: The proofs of life. (Commonly: the ayat and burhan of life. See AYAT.)
cherem: A brotherhood of hate (usually for revenge).
ghanima: Something acquired in battle or in single combat. Commonly, a momento of combat kept only to stir the memory.
Fedaykin: Fremen death commandos; historically, a group formed and pledged to give their lives to right a wrong.
hiereg: Temporary Fremen desert camp on open sand.
ichwan bedwine: The brotherhood of all Fremen on Arrakis.
istislah: A rule for the general welfare; usually a preface to brutal necessity.
kiswa: Any figure or design from Fremen mythology.
Kitab al-Ibar: The combined survival handbook-religious manual developed by the Fremen on Arrakis.
liban: Fremen liban is spice water infused with yucca flour. Originally a sour milk drink.
Mihna: The season for testing Fremen youths who wish admittance to manhood.
misr: The historical Zensunni (Fremen) term for themselves: "The People."
Naib: One who has sworn never to be taken alive by the enemy; traditional oath of a Fremen leader.
Tahaddi al-Burhan: An ultimate test from which there can be no appeal (usually because it brings death or destruction).
Tahaddi Challenge: Fremen challenge to mortal combat, usually to test some primal issue.
The Tau: In Fremen terminology, that oneness of a sietch community enhanced by a spice diet and especially in the tau orgy of oneness elicited by drinking the Water of Life.
Test-Mashad: Any test in which honor (defined as spiritual standing) is at stake.
wali: An untried Fremen youth.
water burden: A mortal obligation.
water discipline: That harsh training which fits the inhabitants of Arrakis for existence there without wasting moisture.
waterman: A Fremen consecrated for and charged with the ritual duties surrounding water and the Water of Life.
FREMEN RELIGION
Alam al-Mithal: The mystical world of similitudes where all physical limitations are removed.
Auliya: In the Zensunni Wanderer's religion, the female at the left hand of God; God's handmaiden.
baraka: A living holy man of magical powers.
dar al-hikman: A school of religious translation or interpretation.
fiqh: Knowledge, religious law; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderers' religion.
hajj: A holy journey.
hajra: A journey of seeking.
ilm: Theology; science of religious tradition; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderer's faith.
Ibn qirtaiba: "Thus go the holy words..." Formal beginning to Fremen religious incantation (derived from panoplia propheticus).
khala: A traditional invocation to still the angry spirits of a place whose name you mention.
khala: A traditional invocation to still the angry spirits of a place whose name you mention.
Lisan al-Gaib: "The Voice from the Outer World." In Fremen messianic legends, an off-world prophet. Sometimes translated as "Giver of Water." (See MAHDI.)
Mahdi: In the Fremen messianic legend, "The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise."
muad'dib: The adapted kangaroo mouse of Arrakis, a creature associated in the Fremen earth-spirit mythology with a design visible on the planet's second moon. This creature is admired by Fremen for its ability to survive in the open desert.
Quizara Tafwid: Fremen priests (after Muad'Dib).
Sadus: Judges. The Fremen title refers to holy judges, equivalent to saints.
Sarfa: The act of turning away from God.
sayyadina: Feminine acolyte in the Fremen religious hierarchy.
shai-hulud: The sandworm of Arrakis, the "Old Man of the Desert." Significantly, this name, when referred to in a certain tone or written with capital letters, designates the earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions. Sandworms grow to enormous size (specimens longer than 400 meters have been seen in the deep desert) and live to great age unless slain by one of their fellows or drowned in water, which is poisonous to them. Most of the sand on Arrakis is credited to sandworm action. (See LITTLE MAKER.)
Shaitan: Satan.
Shah-nama: The half-legendary First Book of the Zensunni Wanderers.
Ulema: A Zensunni doctor of theology.
FREMEN LANGUAGE
adab: The demanding memory that comes upon you of itself.
al-lat: Mankind's original sun; by usage: any planet's primary.
bi-la kaifa: Amen. (Literally: "Nothing further need be explained.")
ghafla: Giving oneself up to gadfly distractions. Thus: a changeable person, one not to be trusted.
harj: A desert journey, migration.
jihad: A religious crusade; fanatical crusade.
ijaz: A prophecy that by its very nature cannot be denied; immutable prophecy.
Kull wahad!: "I am profoundly stirred!" A sincere exclamation of surprise common in the Imperium. Strict interpretation depends on context. (It is is said of Muad'dib that once he watched a desert hawk chick emerge from its shell and whispered: "Kull wahad!")
La, La, La: Fremen cry of grief. (La translates as ultimate denial, a "no" from which you cannot appeal.)
Mudir Nahya: The Fremen name for Beast Rabban (Count Rabban of Lankiveil), the Harkonnen cousin who was siridar governor of Arrakis for many years. The name is often translated as "Demon Ruler."
Mu zein wallah!: Mu zein literally means "nothing good," and wallah is a reflexive terminal exclamation. In this traditional opening for a Fremen curse against an enemy, wallah turns the emphasis back upon the words mu zein, producing the meaning: "Nothing good, never good, good for nothing."
shadout: Well-dipper, a Fremen honorific.
sietch: "Place of assembly in time of danger." Because the Fremen lived so long in peril, the term came by general usage to designate any cave warren inhabited by one of their tribal communities.
Sihaya: The desert springtime with Fremen religious overtones implying the time of fruitfulness and "the paradise to come."
Subakh ul kuhar: "Are you well?" A Fremen greeting.
Subakh un nar: "I am well. And you?" A traditional reply.
Taqwa: Literally, "The price of freedom." Something of great value. That which a deity demands of a mortal (and the fear provoked by the demand).
Umma: One of the brotherhood of prophets. (A term of scorn in the Imperium, meaning any "wild" person given to fanatical prediction.)
usul: "The base of the pillar."
Ya hya chouhada: "Long live the fighters!" The Fedaykin battle cry. Ya (now) in this cry is augmented by the hya form (the ever-extended now). Chouhada (fighters) carries this added meaning of fighters against injustice. There is a distinction in this word that specifies the fighters are not struggling for anything, but are consecrated against a certain thing--that alone.
yali: A Fremen's personal quarters within the sietch.
Ya! Ya! Yawm!: Fremen chanting cadence used in time of deep ritual significance. Ya carries the root meaning of "Now pay attention!" The yawm form is a modified term calling for urgent immediacy. The chant is usually translated as "Now, hear this!"
akarso: A plant native to Sikun (of 70 Ophiuchi A) characterized by almost oblong leaves. Its green and white stripes indicate the constant multiple condition of parallel active and dormant chlorophyll regions.
inkvine: A creeping plant native to Giedi Prime and frequently used as a whip in the slave cribs. Victims are marked by beet-colored tattoos that cause residual pain for many years.
pleniscenta: An exotic green bloom of Ecaz noted for its sweet aroma.
pundi rice: A mutated rice whose grains, high in natural sugar, achieve lengths of up to four centimeters; chief export of Caladan.
sondagi: The fern tulip of Tupali.
elacca drug: Narcotic formed by burning blood-grained elacca wood of Ecaz. Its effect is to remove most of the will to self-preservation. Druggee skin shows a characteristic carrot color. Commonly used to prepare slave gladiators for the ring.
rachag: A caffeine-type stimulant from the yellow berries of akarso (See AKARSO.)
sapho: High-energy liquid extracted from barrier roots of Ecaz. Commonly used by Mentats who claim it amplifies mental powers. Users develop deep ruby stains on mouth and lips.
semuta: The second narcotic derivative (by crystal extraction) from burned residue of elacca wood. The effect (described as timeless, sustained ecstasy) is elicited by certain atonal vibrations referred to as semuta music.
verite: One of the Ecaz will-destroying narcotics. It renders a person incapable of falsehood.
Water of Life: An "illuminating" poison (See REVEREND MOTHER). Specifically, that liquid exhalation of a sandworm (See SHAI-HULUD) produced at the moment of its death from drowning which is changed within the body of a Reverend Mother to become the narcotic used in the sietch tau orgy. An "awareness spectrum" narcotic.
Ampoliros: The legendary "Flying Dutchman" of space.
baliset: A nine-stringed musical instrument, lineal descendant of the zithra, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. Favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors.
B.G.: Idiomatic for Bene Gesserit except when used with a date. With a date it signifies Before Guild and identifies the Imperial dating system based on the genesis of the Spacing Guild's monopoly.
cheops: Pyramid chess; nine-level with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the opponent's king in check.
cielago: Any modified Chiroptera of Arrakis adapted to carry distrans messages.
free traders: Idiomatic for smugglers.
kindjal: Double-bladed short sword (or long knife) with about 20 centimeters of curved blade.
krimskell fiber (krimskell rope): The "claw fiber" woven from strands of the hufuf vine from Ecaz. Knots tied in krimskell will claw tighter and tighter to preset limits when the knot-lines are pulled. (For a more detailed study, see Holjance Vohnbrook's "The Strangler Vines of Ecaz.")
Mating Index: The Bene Gesserit master record of its human breeding program aimed at producing the Kwisatz Haderach.
mish-mish: Apricots.
mushtamal: A small garden annex or garden courtyard.
opafire: One of the rare opaline jewels of Hagal.
portyguls: Oranges.
residual poison: An innovation attributed to the Mentat Piter de Vries whereby the body is impregnated with a substance for which repeated antidotes must be administered. Withdrawal of the the antidote at any time brings death.
schlag: An animal native to Tupile once hunted almost to extinction for its thin, tough hide.
slip-tip: Any thin, short blade (often poison-tipped) for left-hand use in shield fighting.
Varota: Famed maker of balisets; a native of Chusuk.
weirding: idiomatic: that which partakes of the mystical or of witchcraft.
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