A Kenogaian Glossary
Words from Another World
If (Octidi), 18 Pluviôse, CCXXXIII
Readers of Kenogaia have on occasion asked me to provide a glossary of the obscure and invented technical terms, as well as a few odd proper names, scattered throughout the text. Most of the neologisms are constructed from Greek roots, with a little Latin and Persian tossed in, but I admit that it would be rather a lot to ask of any reader to find their meanings all immediately obvious. For those who have not read the book (and shame on you), think of this as a not very subtle form of advertisement. God willing, I will be back to writing proper articles in a week or so.
Words not constructed, but instead directly borrowed from another tongue, are identified by bracketed identifications of the source languages.
So then:
Anamestosis
“Filling in” [Greek].
Anemokineton
A “wind-engine”.
Anemophone
“Sound upon the wind”, a device that allows nearly instantaneous communication by voice through exploitation of the ‘subtle currents’ or ‘ethereal substrate’ of the wind.
Anemotechnics
The science of the wind’s ‘subtle currents’ or ‘ethereal substrate’ and its practical applications.
Argentea
The higher and silver moon, once worshipped as a goddess.
Arsenodeleastics
The science of appealing to (baiting, luring, alluring) males, a division of Kenogaian psychology.
Athyrma
“Toy” [Greek].
Aurea
The lower and golden moon, once worshipped as a goddess.
Axiomorpha
Possessed of an admirable figure.
Caeruledian
Pertaining to Caeruledia, the day of the week named for the planet (or goddess, in the days before the Great Illumination) Caerulea.
Chrysastra
“Golden star”, a kind of flowering bush exclusively native to Oreiotopia, planted there by agents of a higher realm.
Climatistic
Having to do with air conditioning.
Climatistikon
An air conditioner.
Cosmomechanema
“The cosmos as a machine”.
Crepusculitis
“A rare condition whose chief symptom, it seems, is debilitating and morbid melancholy during twilight hours.” According to Mr. Lucius (a known medical authority).
Cthonos or Hel
“Cthonic king”, “king of the underworld”, “King Hel”, “King of the Land of Hel”, one of the gods worshipped in the days before the Great Illumination.
Deleastic
Having to do with lures or allurement or seduction.
Demiourgeion
A temple dedicated to the worship of the ‘Great Artisan’ or Demiurge.
Dendrogonic
“The generation of trees”, a style of ornamentation peculiar to Oreiotopia.
Eisoptrographic Eidolography
A method of producing photographic images using a mirror technology.
Encephalotomist
One who performs encephalotomy.
Encephalotomy
Brain surgery (of a sort).
Enteles
“Perfect” or “full” [Greek].
Ephebeia
An academy for boys and young men.
Ephebics
The psychological study of boys or young men.
Fravashi
A mythical, heavenly bird [Persian].
Galera
“Cheerful”, “Perky” [Greek].
Glyka Goëtika
“Goëtic sweets”, “ensorcelling candies”.
Goëtus
Sorcerer [Greek…-ish].
Hypermachos
“Extremely belligerent”.
Incudian
“Having to do with anvils”, the name of a monastic order.
Irya
“Noble”, “Aryan” [Persian].
Kenocosm
“Empty cosmos”, “Cosmos of emptiness”.
Kenogaia
“Empty earth”, “Land of emptiness”.
Kenoma
“Emptiness”, “dearth’, “void” [Greek].
Kenopolis
“Empty city”, “city of emptiness”.
Kolastics
The art of discipline or punishment.
Koreia
An academy for girls or young women.
Marioneta
“Puppet”, “poppet” [modern Greek].
Marmorean
“Marble-like”, a kind of tree, also called whitewood, whose wood is indeed pure white and whose leaves are blue, exclusively native to Oreiotopia, planted there by agents of a higher realm.
Mastigatrix
Someone who punishes (feminine form).
Morphinium
“Inducing languor”, a sedative, a kind of berry bush that grows in the mountains of Kenogaia’s northern hemisphere.
Nyctohemeral
Relating to the cycle of night and day, a perfectly good English word once one removes the ‘o’.
Ochlosyntactic
“Mob control”, “crowd control”.
Oneirodakryon
“Dream tears”, a kind of narcotic distilled from an eastern tree sap.
Oreiotopia
“Land of mountains”, “Montana”.
Ouranonomer
One who is trained in ouranonomy.
Ouranonomy
A study of the lawful order of the heavens, investigation of the planetary spheres and the region of the fixed stars.
Ouranorium
An observatory of the heavenly spheres and fixed stars.
Paichnidia
A doll or toy, or “toys” [modern Greek].
Pamphagos
“Omnivorous”.
Phosphorion
A device for shedding light, a glass sphere filled with ‘phosphoric vapors’ [in Kenogaia, electricity has never been mastered, but energy and light can be extracted from ‘phosphoric crystals’].
Phosphorology
The science of ‘phosphoric crystal’ and its practical applications.
Photeinic Eidolography
“The use of light to inscribe images”, a kind of photography.
Pleroma
“Fullness”, “plenitude”, “completeness” [Greek].
Pneumatagogue
“Spirit guide”, in the case of the novel a white bird who is the companion and sometime guardian of Oriens.
Psychomechanema
“The soul as a machine”.
Psychopompic
Having to do with conducting souls to the land of the dead.
Pyrokarpos
“Fire-fruit”, a fructiferous bush that grows in the mountains of Oreiotopia.
Sarciatry
A medical art, “therapy of the flesh”.
Skiographic Eidolography
A method of producing photographic images through the manipulation of shadow.
Stellatum
The sphere of the fixed stars, the celestial sphere enclosing all the planetary spheres and itself enclosed by the primum mobile of the ‘Great Engine’ [Latin].
Synonymicon
What we now call a ‘Thesaurus’, a tool for increasing one’s vocabulary.
Thalassos or Sae
“King of the oceans”, “King Sae”, one of the gods worshipped in the days before the Great Illumination.
Theomenia
“Divine wrath”, “wrath of God” [Greek].
Theoplast
A maker of gods or a divine creator.
Therapeutikon
A collection of hortatory and consolatory sermons, prayers, and meditations, used primarily for devotional purposes by the Lupine Brethren and other sacred orders of Kenogaia; a collection that is roughly four-hundred years old at the time of the novel’s narrative.
Venefici
“Poisoners”, makers of venoms or poisons, a religious order [Latin].
Kenogaia was, without any doubt, a great book. However, I must say, you really missed a trick to enrich yourse…. the experience of your readers. Instead of wrapping the story neatly in one volume, you should have split it into three huge installments and followed strictly the tropes of the modern young adult fantasy. The first part should have covered the harsh combat training of the protagonists (which, BTW, was another key element missing. Where was the wise master who would instruct our heroes in the art of war and steel their resolve and then make the ultimate sacrifice in order to remove a great obstacle on their quest?) and its first tests in practice, and end on an optimistic note by defeating a secondary antagonist in a thrilling fight (Mr. Lucius being the prime candidate for this role). Then, in the second volume, our central characters should have suffered a huge setback after their first face-to-face meeting with the main enemy, losing a sidekick or two in the process, but still escaping with their lives. The final volume would see their final triumph over the forces of evil in a bittersweet ending (more sidekicks dying, some wounds never being healed, etc.). And you should have left the door wide open for many sequels and prequels and the associated merchandise (including a nice Funko Pop line).
And my final complaint: Where was the SEX? Have you recently looked at the New York Times’s bestseller list? In the last two years it has been dominated by the Fourth Wing’s fantasy series by Rebecca Yarros, which contains many tens of pages of material that the previous generation would classify as “soft porn.”. Some female classmates of my daughter even recently created an Instagram story where they read together the latest installment in the series, Onyx Storm, in a posh coffeehouse. I considered countering this by asking my daughter to make a similar Instagram story with Kenogaia, but, unfortunately, I have only the Kindle version. You may object that such graphic content may not be appropriate for books where the protagonists are minors, but when has that ever stopped George R.R. Martin or Stephen King?
If you follow my advice in your further endeavors in the fantasy genre, the only form of gratitude I expect is to be invited to your future Martha's Vineyard mansion.
As a read it a third time, hopefully out loud this time to my 11yr old I will be sure to keep the glossary nearby. Siri will not be up to the task. I do wish you more time and creative energy for books like Kenogaia.