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Terminology of The Imperium

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a

ABA: loose robe worn by Fremen women; usually black.
ACH: left turn: a worm-steersman’s call.
ADAB: the demanding memory that comes upon you of itself.
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.
ALAM AL-MITHAL: the mystical world of similitudes where all physical limitations are removed.
AL-LAT: mankind’s original sun; by usage: any planet’s primary.
AMPOLIROS: the legendary “Flying Dutchman” of space.
AMTAL or AMTAL RULE: a common rule on primitive worlds under which something is tested to determine its limits or defects. Commonly : testing to destruction.
AQL: the test of reason. Originally, the “Seven Mystic Questions” beginning: “Who is it that thinks?”
ARRAKEEN: first settlement on Arrakis; long-time seat of planetary government.
ARRAKIS: the planet known as Dune; third planet of Canopus.
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.
AULIYA: In the Zensunni Wanderers’ religion, the female at the left hand of God; God’s handmaiden.
AUMAS: poison administered in food. (Specifically: poison in solid food.) In some dialects: Chaumas.
AYAT: the signs of life. (See Burhan.)

b

BAKKA: in Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind.
BAKLAWA: a heavy pastry made with date syrup.
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.
BARADYE PISTOL: a static-charge dust gun developed on Arrakis for laying down a large dye marker area on sand.
BARAKA: a living holy man of magical powers.
BASHAR (often Colonel Bashar): an officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title reserved strictly for military use.)
BATTLE LANGUAGE: any special language of restricted etymology developed for clear-speech communication in warfare.
BEDWINE: see Ichwan Bedwine.
BELA TEGEUSE: fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration.
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.
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.
BHOTANI JIB: see Chakobsa.
BI-LA KAIFA: Amen. (Literally: “Nothing further need be explained.”)
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.
BLED: flat, open desert./li>
BOURKA: insulated mantle worn by Fremen in the open desert.
BURHAN: the proofs of life. (Commonly: the ayat and burhan of life. See Ayat.)
BURSEG: a commanding general of the Sardaukar.
BUTLERIAN JIHAD: see Jihad, Butlerian (also Great Revolt).

C

CAID: Sardaukar officer rank given to a military 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.
CALADAN: third planet of Delta Pavonis; birthworld of Paul-Muad’ Dib.
CANTO and RESPONDU: an invocation rite, part of the panoplia propheticus of the Missionaria Protectiva.
CARRYALL: a flying wing (commonly “wing”), the aerial workhorse of Arrakis, used to transport large spice mining, hunting, and refining equipment.
CATCHPOCKET: any stillsuit pocket where filtered water is caught and stored.
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.
CHAUMAS (Aumas in some dialects): poison in solid food as distinguished from poison administered in some other way.
CHAUMURKY (Musky or Murky in some dialects): poison administered in a drink.
CHEOPS: pyramid chess; nine-level chess with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the opponent’s king in check.
CHEREM: a brotherhood of hate (usually for revenge).
CHOAM: acronym for Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles—the universal development corporation controlled by the Emperor and Great Houses with the Guild and Bene Gesserit as silent partners.
CHUSUK: fourth planet of Theta Shalish; the so-called “Music Planet” noted for the quality of its musical instruments. (See Varota.)
CIELAGO: any modified Chiroptera of Arrakis adapted to carry distrans messages.
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.
CORIOLIS STORM: any major sandstorm 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.
CORRIN, BATTLE OF: 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 ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secundus.
COUSINES: blood relations beyond cousins.
CRUSHERS: military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on an enemy position, crushing it.
CUTTERAY: short-range version of lasgun used mostly as a cutting tool and surgeon’s scalpel.
CRYSKNIFE: the sacred knife of the Fremen on Arrakis. It is manufactured in two forms from teeth taken from dead sandworms. The two forms are “fixed” and “unfixed.” An unfixed knife requires proximity to a human body’s electrical field to prevent disintegration. Fixed knives are treated for storage. All are about 20 centimeters long.

d

DAR AL-HIKMAN: school of religious translation or interpretation.
DARK THINGS: idiomatic for the infectious superstitions taught by the Missionaria Protectiva to susceptible civilizations.
DEATH TRIPOD: originally, the tripod upon which desert executioners hanged their victims. By usage: the three members of a Cherem sworn to the same revenge.
DERCH: right turn; a worm steersman’s call.
DEW COLLECTORS or DEW PRECIPITATORS: not to be confused with dew gatherers. Collectors or precipitators are egg-shaped devices about four centimeters on the long axis. They are made of chromoplastic that turns a reflecting white when subjected to light, and reverts to transparency in darkness. The collector forms a markedly cold surface upon which dawn dew will precipitate. They are used by Fremen to line concave planting depressions where they provide a small but reliable source of water.
DEW GATHERERS: workers who reap dew from the plants of Arrakis, using a scythelike dew reaper.
DEMIBROTHERS: sons of concubines in the same household and certified as having the same father.
DICTUM FAMILIA: that rule of the Great Convention which 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.
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.
DRUM SAND: impaction of sand in such a way that any sudden blow against its surface produces a distinct drum sound.
DOORSEAL: a portable plastic hermetic seal used for moisture security in Fremen overday cave camps.
DUMP BOXES: the general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equipped with ablation surfaces and suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet’s surface.
DUNE MEN: idiomatic for open sand workers, spice hunters and the like on Arrakis. Sandworkers. Spiceworkers.
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.)

e

ECAZ: fourth planet of Alpha Centauri B; the sculptors’ 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.
EGO-LIKENESS: portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is capable of reproducing subtle movements said to convey the ego essence.
ELACCA DRUG: narcotic formed by burning blood-grained elacca wood of Ecas. 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.
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.
ERG: an extensive dune area, a sea of sand.

f

FAI: the water tribute, chief specie of tax on Arrakis.
FANMETAL: metal formed by the growing of jasmium crystals in duraluminum; noted for extreme tensile strength in relationship to weight. Name derives from its common use in collapsible structures that are opened by “fanning” them out.
FAUFRELUCHES: the rigid rule of class distinction enforced by the Imperium. “A place for every man and every man in his place.”
FEDAYKIN: Fremen death commandos; historically: a group formed and pledged to give their lives to right a wrong.
FILMBOOK: any shigawire imprint used in training and carrying a mnemonic pulse.
FILT-PLUG: a nose filter unit worn with a stillsuit to capture moisture from the exhaled breath.
FIQH: knowledge, religious law; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderers’ religion.
FIRE, PILLAR OF: a simple pyrocket for signalling across the open desert.
FIRST MOON: the major satellite of Arrakis, first to rise in the night; notable for a distinct human fist pattern on its surface.
FREE TRADERS: idiomatic for smugglers.
FREMEN: the free tribes of Arrakis, dwellers in the desert, remnants of the Zensunni Wanderers. (“Sand Pirates” according to the Imperial Dictionary.)
FREMKIT: desert survival kit of Fremen manufacture.
FRIGATE: largest spaceship that can be grounded on a planet and taken off in one piece.

g

GALACH: official language of the Imperium. Hybrid Inglo-Slavic with strong traces of cultural-specialization terms adopted during the long chain of human migrations.
GAMONT: third planet of Niushe; noted for its hedonistic culture and exotic sexual practices.
GARE: butte.
GATHERING: distinguished from Council Gathering. It is a formal convocation of Fremen leaders to witness a combat that determines tribal leadership. (A Council Gathering is an assembly to arrive at decisions involving all the tribes.)
GEYRAT: straight ahead; a worm steersman’s call.
GHAFLA: giving oneself up to gadfly distractions. Thus: a changeable person, one not to be trusted.
GHANIMA: something acquired in battle or single combat. Commonly, a memento of combat kept only to stir the memory.
GIEDI PRIME: the planet of Ophiuchi B (36), homeworld of House Harkonnen. A median-viable planet with a low active-photosynthesis range.
GINAZ, HOUSE OF: one-time allies of Duke Leto Atreides. They were defeated in the War of Assassins with Grumman.
GIUDICHAR: a holy truth. (Commonly seen in the expression Guidichar mantene: an original and supporting truth.)
GLOWGLOBE: suspensor-buoyed illuminating device, self-powered (usually by organic batteries).
GRABEN: a long geological ditch formed when the ground sinks because of movements in the underlying crustal layers.
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….”
GREAT MOTHER: the horned goddess, the feminine 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.
GREAT REVOLT: common term for the Butlerian Jihad. (See Jihad, Butlerian.)
GRIDEX PLANE: a differential-charge separator used to remove sand from the melange spice mass; a device of the second stage in spice refining.
GRUMMAN: second planet of Niushe, noted chiefly for the feud of its ruling House (Moritani) with House Ginaz.
GOM JABBAR: the high-handed enemy; that specific poison needle tipped with meta-cyanide used by Bene Gesserit Proctors in the death-alternative test of human awareness.
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.

h

HAGAL: the “Jewel Planet” (II Theta Shaowei), mined out in the time of Shaddam I.
HAIIIII-YOH!: command to action; worm steersman’s call.
HAJJ: holy journey.
HARJ: desert journey, migration.
HAJRA: journey of seeking.
HAL YAWM: “Now! At last!” a Fremen exclamation.
HARMONTHEP: Ingsley gives this as the planet name for the sixth stop in the Zensunni migration. It is supposed to have been a no longer existent satellite of Delta Pavonis.
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 on independent tracks.)
HEIGHLINER: major cargo carrier of the Spacing Guild’s transportation system.
HIEREG: temporary Fremen desert camp on open sand.
HIGH COUNCIL: the Landsraad inner circle empowered to act as supreme tribunal in House to House disputes.
HOLTZMAN EFFECT: the negative repelling effect of a shield generator.
HOOKMAN: Fremen with Maker hooks prepared to catch a sandworm.
HOUSE: idiomatic for Ruling Clan of a planet or planetary system.
HOUSES MAJOR: holders of planetary fiefs; interplanetary entrepreneurs. (See House above.)
HOUSES MINOR: planet-bound entrepreneur class (Galach: “Richece”).
HUNTER-SEEKER: a ravening sliver of suspensor-buoyed metal guided as a weapon by a near-by control console; common assassination device.

i

IBAD, EYES OF: characteristic effect of a diet high in melange wherein the whites and pupils of the eyes turn a deep blue (indicative of deep melange addiction).
IBN QIRTAIBA: “Thus go the holy words….” Formal beginning to Fremen religious incantation (derived from panoplia propheticus).
ICHWAN BEDWINE: the brotherhood of all Fremen on Arrakis.
IJAZ: prophecy that by its very nature cannot be denied; immutable prophecy.
IKHUT-EIGH!: cry of the water-seller on Arrakis (etymology uncertain). See Soo-Soo Sook!
ILM: theology; science of religious tradition; one of the half-legendary origins of the Zensunni Wanderers’ faith.
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.
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.
ISTISLAH: a rule for the general welfare; usually a preface to brutal necessity.
IX: see Richese.

j

JIHAD: a religious crusade; fanatical crusade.
JIHAD, BUTLERIAN: (see also Great Revolt)—the crusade against computers, thinking machines, and conscious robots begun in 201 B.G. and concluded in 108 B.G. Its chief commandment remains in the O.C. Bible as “Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.”
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.
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.

k

KANLY: formal feud or vendetta under the rules of the Great Convention carried on according to the strictest limitations. (See Judge of the Change.) Originally the rules were designed to protect innocent bystanders.
KARAMA: a miracle; an action initiated by the spirit world.
KHALA: traditional invocation to still the angry spirits of a place whose name you mention.
KINDJAL: double-bladed short sword (or long knife) with about 20 centimeters of slightly curved blade.
KISWA: any figure or design from Fremen mythology.
KITAB AL-IBAR: the combined survival handbook-religious manual developed by the Fremen on Arrakis.
KRIMSKELL FIBER or 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.”)
KULL WAHAD!: “I am profoundly stirred!” A sincere exclamation of surprise common in the Imperium. Strict interpretation depends on context. (It is said of Muad’Dib that once he watched a desert hawk chick emerge from its shell and whispered: “Kull wahad!”)
KULON: wild ass of Terra’s Asiatic steppes adapted for Arrakis.
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.

l

LA, LA, LA: Fremen cry of grief. (La translates as ultimate denial, a “no” from which you cannot appeal.)
LASGUN: 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 its beam intersects a shield.
LEGION, IMPERIAL: ten brigades (about 30,000 men).
LIBAN: Fremen liban is spice water infused with yucca flour. Originally a sour milk drink.
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.)
LITERJON: a one-liter container for transporting water on Arrakis; made of high-density, shatterproof plastic with positive seal.
LITTLE MAKER: the half-plant-half-animal deep-sand vector of the Arrakis sandworm. The Little Maker’s excretions form the pre-spice mass.

m

MAHDI: in the Fremen messianic legend, “The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise.”
MAKER: see Shai-hulud.
MAKER HOOKS: the hooks used for capturing, mounting, and steering a sandworm of Arrakis.
MANTENE: underlying wisdom, supporting argument, first principle. (See Giudichar.)
MATING INDEX: the Bene Gesserit master record of its human breeding program aimed at producing the Kwisatz Haderach.
MAULA: slave.
MAULA PISTOL: spring-loaded gun for firing poison darts; range about forty meters.
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.
MENTAT: that class of Imperial citizens trained for supreme accomplishments of logic. “Human computers.”
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.
MIHNA: the season for testing Fremen youths who wish admittance to manhood.
MINIMIC FILM: shigawire of one-micron diameter often used to transmit espionage and counterespionage data.
MISH-MISH: apricots.
MISR: the historical Zensunni (Fremen) term for themselves: “The People.”
MISSIONARIA PROTECTIVA: the arm of the Bene Gesserit order charged with sowing infectious superstitions on primitive worlds, thus opening those regions to exploitation by the Bene Gesserit. (See Panoplia propheticus.)
MONITOR: a ten-section space warcraft mounting heavy armor and shield protection. It is designed to be separated into its component sections for lift-off after planet-fall.
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.
MUDIR NAHYA: the Fremen name for Beast Rabban (Count Rabban of Lankiveil), the Harkonnen cousin who was siridar governor on Arrakis for many years. The name is often translated as “Demon Ruler.”
MUSHTAMAL: a small garden annex or garden courtyard.
MUSKY: poison in a drink. (See Chaumurky.)
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.”

n

Na-: a prefix meaning “nominated” or “next in line.” Thus: na-Baron means heir apparent to a barony.
NAIB: one who has sworn never to be taken alive by the enemy; traditional oath of a Fremen leader.
NEZHONI SCARF: the scarf-pad worn at the forehead beneath the stillsuit hood by married or “associated” Fremen women after birth of a son.
NOUKKERS: officers of the Imperial bodyguard who are related to the Emperor by blood. Traditional rank for sons of royal concubines.

o

OIL LENS: hufuf 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.
OPAFIRE: one of the rare opaline jewels of Hagal.
ORANGE CATHOLIC BIBLE: the “Accumulated Book,” the religious text produced by the Commission of Ecumenical Translators. It contains elements of most ancient religions, including the Maometh Saari, Mahayana Christianity, Zensunni Catholicism and Buddislamic traditions. Its supreme commandment is considered to be: “Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.”
ORNITHOPTER (commonly: ’thopter): any aircraft capable of sustained wing-beat flight in the manner of birds.
OUT-FREYN: Galach for “immediately foreign,” that is: not of your immediate community, not of the select.

p

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.
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.)
PANOPLIA PROPHETICUS: term covering the infectious superstitions used by the Bene Gesserit to exploit primitive regions. (See Missionaria Protectiva.)
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.
PENTASHIELD: a five-layer shield-generator field suitable for small areas such as doorways or passages (large reinforcing shields become increasingly unstable with each successive layer) and virtually impassable to anyone not wearing a dissembler tuned to the shield codes. (See Prudence Door.)
PLASTEEL: steel which has been stabilized with stravidium fibers grown into its crystal structure.
PLENISCENTA: an exotic green bloom of Ecaz noted for its sweet aroma.
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.
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.
PORTYGULS: oranges.
PRANA (Prana-musculature): the body’s muscles when considered as units for ultimate training. (See Bindu.)
PRE-SPICE MASS: the stage of fungusoid wild growth achieved when water is flooded into the excretions of Little Makers. At this stage, the spice of Arrakis forms a characteristic “blow,” exchanging 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.)
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.
PROCTOR SUPERIOR: a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother who is also regional director of a B.G. school. (Commonly: Bene Gesserit with the Sight.)
PRUDENCE DOOR or PRUDENCE BARRIER (idiomatically: pru-door or pru-barrier): any pentashield situated for the escape of selected persons under conditions of pursuit. (See Pentashield.)
PUNDI RICE: a mutated rice whose grains, high in natural sugar, achieve lengths up to four centimeters; chief export of Caladan.
PYONS: planet-bound peasants or laborers, one of the base classes under the Faufreluches. Legally; wards of the planet.
PYRETIC CONSCIENCE: so-called “conscience of fire”; that inhibitory level touched by Imperial conditioning. (See Imperial conditioning.)

q

QANAT: an open canal for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions through a desert.
QIRTAIBA: see Ibn Qirtaiba.
QUIZARA TAFWID: Fremen priests (after Muad’Dib).

r

RACHAG: a caffeine-type stimulant from the yellow berries of akarso. (See Akarso.)
RAMADHAN: ancient religious period marked by fasting and prayer; traditionally, the ninth month of the solar-lunar calendar. Fremen mark the observance according to the ninth meridian-crossing cycle of the first moon.
RAZZIA: a semipiratical guerrilla raid.
RECATHS: body-function tubes linking the human waste disposal system to the cycling filters of a stillsuit.
REPKIT: repair and replacement essentials for a stillsuit.
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 antidote at any time brings death.
REVEREND MOTHER: originally, a proctor of the Bene Gesserit, one who has transformed an “illuminating poison” within her body, raising herself to a higher state of awareness. Title adopted by Fremen for their own religious leaders who accomplished a similar “illumination.” (See also Bene Gesserit and Water of Life.)
RICHESE: fourth planet of Eridani A, classed with Ix as supreme in machine culture. Noted for miniaturization. (For a detailed study on how Richese and Ix escaped the more severe effects of the Butlerian Jihad, see The Last Jihad by Sumer and Kautman.)
RIMWALL: second upper step of the protecting bluffs on the Shield Wall of Arrakis. (See Shield Wall.)
RUH-SPIRIT: in Fremen belief, that part of the individual which is always rooted in (and capable of sensing) the metaphysical world. (See Alam al-Mithal.)

s

SADUS: judges. The Fremen title refers to holy judges, equivalent to saints.
SALUSA SECUNDUS: third planet of Gamma Waiping; designated Imperial Prison Planet after removal of the Royal Court to Kaitain. Salusa Secundus is homeworld of House Corrino, and the second stopping point in migrations of the Wandering Zensunni. Fremen tradition says they were slaves on S.S. for nine generations.
SANDCRAWLER: general term for machinery designed to operate on the Arrakis surface in hunting and collecting melange.
SANDMASTER: general superintendent of spice operations.
SANDRIDER: Fremen term for one who is capable of capturing and riding a sandworm.
SANDSNORK: breathing device for pumping surface air into a sand-covered stilltent.
SANDTIDE: idiomatic for a dust tide: the variation in level within certain dust-filled basins on Arrakis due to gravitational effects of sun and satellites. (See Tidal Dust Basin.)
SANDWALKER: any Fremen trained to survive in the open desert.
SANDWORM: See Shai-Hulud.
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.
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 the Ginaz tenth level and their cunning abilities at in-fighting were reputed to approach those of a Bene Gesserit adept. Any one of them was rated a match for any ten ordinary 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.
SARFA: the act of turning away from God.
SAYYADINA: feminine acolyte in the Fremen religious hierarchy.
SCHLAG: animal native to Tupile once hunted almost to extinction for its thin, tough hide.
SECOND MOON: the smaller of the two satellites of Arrakis, noteworthy for the kangaroo mouse figure in its surface markings.
SELAMLIK: Imperial audience chamber.
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.
SERVOK: clock-set mechanism to perform simple tasks; one of the limited “automatic” devices permitted after the Butlerian Jihad.
SHAH-NAMA: the half-legendary First Book of the Zensunni Wanderers.
SHAI-HULUD: Sandworm of Arrakis, the “Old Man of the Desert,” “Old Father Eternity,” and “Grandfather 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.)
SHARI-A: that part of the panoplia propheticus which sets forth the superstitious ritual. (See Missionaria Protectiva.)
SHADOUT: well-dipper, a Fremen honorific.
SHAITAN: Satan.
SHIELD, DEFENSIVE: 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.)
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.
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.
SIETCH: Fremen: “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: Fremen: the desert springtime with religious overtones implying the time of fruitfulness and “the paradise to come.”
SINK: a habitable lowland area on Arrakis surrounded by high ground that protects it from the prevailing storms.
SINKCHART: map of the Arrakis surface laid out with reference to the most reliable paracompass routes between places of refuge. (See Paracompass.)
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.”
SLIP-TIP: any thin, short blade (often poison-tipped) for left-hand use in shield fighting.
SNOOPER, POISON: radiation analyzer within the olfactory spectrum and keyed to detect poisonous substances.
SOLARI: official monetary unit of the Imperium, its purchasing power set at quatricentennial negotiations between the Guild, the Landsraad, and the Emperor.
SOLIDO: the three-dimensional image from a solido projector using 360-degree reference signals imprinted on a shigawire reel. Ixian solido projectors are commonly considered the best.
SONDAGI: the fern tulip of Tupali.
SOO-SOO SOOK!: water-seller’s cry on Arrakis. Sook is a market place. (See Ikhut-eigh!)
SPACING GUILD: see Guild.
SPICE DRIVER: any Dune man who controls and directs movable machinery on the desert surface of Arrakis.
SPICE FACTORY: see Sandcrawler.
SPOTTER CONTROL: the light ornithopter in a spice-hunting group charged with control of watch and protection.
STILLSUIT: body-enclosing garment invented on Arrakis. Its fabric is a micro-sandwich performing functions of heat dissipation and filter for bodily wastes. Reclaimed moisture is made available by tube from catchpockets.
STILLTENT: small, sealable enclosure of micro-sandwich fabric designed to reclaim as potable water the ambient moisture discharged within it by the breath of its occupants.
STUNNER: slow-pellet projectile weapon throwing a poison- or drug-tipped dart. Effectiveness limited by variations in shield settings and relative motion between target and projectile.
SUBAKH UL KUHAR: “Are you well?”: a Fremen greeting.
SUBAKH UN NAR: “I am well. And you?”: traditional reply.
SUSPENSOR: secondary (low-drain) phase of a Holtzman field generator. It nullifies gravity within certain limits prescribed by relative mass and energy consumption.

t

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.
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).
TAU, THE: in Fremen terminology, that oneness of a sietch community enhanced by spice diet and especially 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.
THUMPER: short stake with spring-driven clapper at one end. The purpose: to be driven into the sand and set “thumping” to summon shai-hulud. (See Maker hooks.)
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 Sandtides) have been measured.
TLEILAX: lone planet of Thalim, noted as renegade training center for Mentats; source of “twisted” Mentats.
T-P: idiomatic for telepathy.
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.
TROOP CARRIER: any Guild ship designed specifically for transport of troops between planets.
TRUTHSAYER: a Reverend Mother qualified to enter truthtrance and detect insincerity or falsehood.
TRUTHTRANCE: semihypnotic trance induced by one of several “awareness spectrum” narcotics in which the petit 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.)
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.

u

ULEMA: a Zensunni doctor of theology.
UMMA: one of the brotherhood of prophets. (A term of scorn in the Imperium, meaning any “wild” person given to fanatical prediction.)
UROSHNOR: one of several sounds empty of general meaning and which Bene Gesserit implant within the psyches of selected victims for purposes of control. The sensitized person, hearing the sound, is temporarily immobilized.
USUL: Fremen: “The base of the pillar.”

v

VAROTA: famed maker of balisets; a native of Chusuk.
VERITE: one of the Ecaz will-destroying narcotics. It renders a person incapable of falsehood.
VOICE: that combined training originated by the Bene Gesserit which permits an adept to control others merely by selected tone shadings of the voice.

w

WALI: an untried Fremen youth.
WALLACH IX: ninth planet of Laoujin, site of the Mother School of the Bene Gesserit.
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 declaration of intent and restrict permissible weapons.
WATER BURDEN: Fremen: a mortal obligation.
WATERCOUNTERS: metal rings of different size, each designating a specific amount of water payable out of Fremen stores. Watercounters have profound significance (far beyond the idea of money) especially in birth, death, and courtship ritual.
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.
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.
WATERTUBE: any tube within a stillsuit or stilltent that carries reclaimed water into a catchpocket or from the catchpocket to the wearer.
WAY, BENE GESSERIT: use of the minutiae of observation.
WEATHER SCANNER: a person trained in the special methods of predicting weather on Arrakis, including ability to pole the sand and read the wind patterns.
WEIRDING: idiomatic: that which partakes of the mystical or of witchcraft.
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.

x

there's no word that starts with the letter x

y

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 specific 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!”

z

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 been merely the male spokesman for his second wife, Nisai.

All credits go to Frank Herbert for writing this incredible book