Anathem: (1) In Proto-Orth, a poetic or musical invocation of Our Mother Hylaea, which since the time of Adrakhones has been the climax of the daily liturgy (hence the Fluccish word Anthem mean¬¨ing a song of great emotional resonance, esp. one that inspires lis¬¨teners to sing along). Note: this sense is archaic, and used only in a ritual context where it is unlikely to be confused with the much more commonly used sense 2. (2) In New Orth, an aut by which an incorrigible fraa or suur is ejected from the math and his or her work sequestered (hence the Fluccish word Anathema meaning in¬¨tolerable statements or ideas). See Throwback.
Extramuros: (1) In Old Orth, literally “outside the walls.” Often used in reference to the walled city- states of that age. (2) In Middle Orth, the non-mathic world; the turbulent and violent state of aff airs that prevailed after the Fall of Baz. (3) In Praxic Orth, geographical re¬¨gions or social classes not yet enlightened by the resurgent wisdom of the mathic world. (4) In New Orth, similar to sense 2 above, but often used to denote those settlements immediately surrounding the walls of a math, implying comparative prosperity, stability, etc.
Saunt: (1) In New Orth, a term of veneration applied to great think¬¨ers, almost always posthumously. Note: this word was accepted only in the Millennial Orth Convox of A.R. 3000. Prior to then it was con¬¨sidered a misspelling of Savant. In stone, where only upper-case letters are used, this is rendered SAVANT (or ST. if the stonecarver is running out of space). During the decline of standards in the de¬¨cades that followed the Third Sack, a confusion between the letters U and V grew commonplace (the “lazy stonecarver problem”), and 37667_AuExcerpt.indd 1 8/12/08 2:50:44 PM many began to mistake the word for SAUANT. This soon degener¬¨ated to saunt (now accepted) and even sant (still deprecated). In writ¬¨ten form, St. may be used as an abbreviation for any of these. Within some traditional orders it is still pronounced “Savant” and obvi¬¨ously the same is probably true among Millenarians.
Bulshytt: (1) In Fluccish of the late Praxic Age and early Reconsti¬¨tution, a derogatory term for false speech in general, esp. knowing and deliberate falsehood or obfuscation. (2) In Orth, a more techni¬¨cal and clinical term denoting speech (typically but not necessarily commercial or political) that employs euphemism, convenient vagueness, numbing repetition, and other such rhetorical subter¬¨fuges to create the impression that something has been said. (3) According to the Knights of Saunt Halikaarn, a radical order of the 2nd Millennium A.R., all speech and writings of the ancient Sphen¬¨ics; the Mystagogues of the Old Mathic Age; Praxic Age commer¬¨cial and political institutions; and, since the Reconstitution, anyone they deemed to have been infected by Procian thinking. Their fre¬¨quent and loud use of this word to interrupt lectures, dialogs, pri¬¨vate conversations, etc., exacerbated the divide between Procian and Halikaarnian orders that characterized the mathic world in the years leading up to the Third Sack. Shortly before the Third Sack, all of the Knights of Saunt Halikaarn were Thrown Back, so little more is known about them (their frequent appearance in S√¶cular entertainments results from confusion between them and the Incanters).
Usage note: In the mathic world, if the word is suddenly shouted out in a chalk hall or refectory it brings to mind the events associated with sense (3) and is therefore to be avoided. Spoken in a moderate tone of voice, it takes on sense (2), which long ago lost any vulgar connotations it may once have had. In the S√¶culum it is easily con¬¨fused with sense (1) and deemed a vulgarity or even an obscenity. It is inherent in the mentality of extramuros bulshytt-talkers that 37667_AuExcerpt.indd 2 8/12/08 2:50:44 PM they are more prone than anyone else to taking offense (or pre¬¨tending to) when their bulshytt is pointed out to them. This places the mathic observer in a nearly impossible position. One is forced either to use this “offensive” word and be deemed a disagreeable person and as such excluded from polite discourse, or to say the same thing in a different way, which means becoming a purveyor of bulshytt oneself and thereby lending strength to what one is try¬¨ing to attack. The latter quality probably explains the uncanny stability and resiliency of bulshytt. Resolving this dilemma is beyond the scope of this Dictionary and is probably best left to hi¬¨erarchs who make it their business to interact with the S√¶culum.
to go Hundred: (Derogatory slang) To lose one’s mind, to become mentally unsound, to stray irredeemably from the path of theorics. The expression can be traced to the Third Centennial Apert, when the gates of several Hundreder maths opened to reveal startling out¬¨comes, e.g.: at Saunt Rambalf’s, a mass suicide that had taken place only moments earlier. At Saunt Terramore’s, nothing at all‚ÄĒnot even human remains. At Saunt Byadin’s, a previously unheard-of re¬¨ligious sect calling themselves the Matarrhites (still in existence). At Saunt Lesper’s, no humans, but a previously undiscovered species of tree-dwelling higher primates. At Saunt Phendra’s, a crude nuclear reactor in a system of subterranean catacombs. These and other mis¬¨haps prompted the creation of the Inquisition and the institution of hierarchs in their modern forms, including Wardens Regulant with power to inspect and impose discipline in all maths.
Requiem: The aut celebrated to mark the death of an avout.