I've written two novels in the Doc Sidhe series — Doc Sidhe (Baen Books, 1995), and Sidhe-Devil (Baen Books, 2001). The purpose of this web page is to answer questions that have arisen about those novels and their setting.
Well, there are several different forms of
Gaelic, and so I've heard more than one pronunciation for "sidhe." But
the pronunciation used in the Doc Sidhe novels, the one
representing the Lower Cretanis (i.e., English) language of the novels'
settings, is "she."
Think of "banshee," another spelling for
which is "bean sidhe."
Rather than write up a separate answer for each fairworld term that appears in the novels, I'll present here the glossary of terms I've accumulated:
Aether: The wireless communications network of the fair world, corresponding roughly to the state of radio communications of our world in the 1930s, though the fair world is more advanced than ours was in the field of television broadcasts; their TV is similar to ours in its infancy, with local stations chiefly broadcasting music, news and sports programming. Gaby Donohue Greene can contact the Grid through Aether devices designed for such a purpose (i.e., the equivalent of car phones).
Airwing: Airplane.
Anoon: One name for the underworld. See also Avlann.
Arcanologist: A historian of magic and mystic things.
Armsman: Lieutenant or aide-de-camp.
Avlann: One name for the underworld, or place of death. See also Anoon.
Beat: One five-hundredth of a chime; about a second. Also called a tick.
Bell: The fair world's clock-hour. There are eight of them in a day. Dawn is around 8 bells; noon, 2; dusk, 4; midnight, 6. See also chime, beat, tick, and destads per bell.
Brand Names (Automobiles): Alpenhaus (Burian manufacturer of taxis and official vehicles), Bellweather, Hutchen (new-world cars for the common man).
Brand Names (Firearms): Greenling (semi-automatic pistols), Gudson (Gudson Model 1 revolver), Klapper (Klapper Autogun).
Burian: Teutonic/Scandinavian peoples and language group. From Buri, the first man, a legend common to the Burian peoples of the fair world and the Germanic peoples of the grim world.
Cameo: Photograph.
Catacombs: Morgue, as in newspaper morgue.
Censtad: A measurement of distance: 20,000 paces, or about twenty kilometers. Corruption of "centistade" (bastardized Latin and Greek roots; see stad, q.v.).
Chime: The fair world's clock-minute. There are 20 of them in a bell; thus each one is about nine minutes long.
Coin talk-box: Pay phone.
Dark: Denizens of the fair world fall into one of three categories: Light, dark, and dusky. (See light and dusky elsewhere in this glossary.) Darks are members of races characterized by fair to olive skin tones and medium to dark hair and eyes, generally with a European cultural background.
Dec: A ten-penny coin. In today's money, worth about $2.50. Big, made of copper, or small, made of silver. See also lib and penny.
Destad: A measurement of distance: 2,000 paces, or about two kilometers. Corruption of "decastade" (bastardized Latin and Greek roots; see stad, q.v.).
Destads Per Bell: A measurement of rate of speed. One destad per bell is pretty close to 2/3 kilometer per hour. Thus 15 destads per bell = 10 kph.
Deviser: Magician/Scientist/Inventor. In the fair world, weird science and weird magic blend together into one discipline, that of the deviser.
Dicto: Primitive intercom.
Displayer: Element of a talk-box equivalent to the screen or TV tube.
Down: A designation of basement levels of a building. In most buildings, there is only one basement level, so it is referred to as "down." In buildings with several, the first level under the surface is "down one," the next is "down two," etc. See also up, q.v.
Dusker: A pejorative term referring to dusky folk; semantically and culturally almost identical to "nigger."
Dusky: One of the three major categories of humanoid races in the fair world; see also dark and light. "Dusky" is the catch-all category for any dark-skinned peoples, particularly those with a cultural background from the continents corresponding to Africa, Asia, and the pre-colonization Americas. Duskies tend to bear the stigma of second-class citizens in areas ruled by lights and darks. The insulting form of the term is dusker (q.v.).
Eamon: A common name. Used almost identically with grimworld English's colloquial use of "johnny." A bad johnny = a bad eamon. Johnny Tomorrow = Tomorrow Eamon.
Fabulator: Novelist, playwright, etc. William Shakespeare is a known fabulator.
Fair of Sisters: Six, or seven if you squint. Refers to the Pleides. Colloquially used to mean "a lot," in which case it can mean any number great enough to cause distress.
Fair World/Fairworld: The Earth of the fair folk (see dark, dusky, and light). It is the twin, in a sense, of the grim world and is mystically connected to it; prior to some undefined point in the European Dark Ages, the two worlds were probably one. The term "fair world" is the noun form, while "fairworld" is the adjective (e.g., "We went to the fair world and bought a fairworld automobile.").
Fall, The: Fair world equivalent of the 1929 stock market crash and the resulting Depression.
Film play: Motion picture.
Finger: A small unit of linear measurement; one-fiftieth of a pace, or about three-quarters of an inch.
Firbolg Valence: A register of how powerfully one influences his or her surrounding through magical energy emission. Only one who is Gifted, magically trained, or enchanted will have a measurable Firbolg Valence.
Fire: Colloquial term corresponding to "heat" or "firepower," i.e. guns.
Fire Guard: Fire department(s).
Free Eye: Private detective.
Gifted: A term referring to someone who has a native, usually untrained, magical ability such as the Sight. Only someone who is Gifted can learn any sort of magic.
Glitter-Bright: A powerful magical narcotic taken internally in liquid form. Illegal in most nations, a source of revenue for criminal organizations.
Goodlady: Common title of address.
Goodsir: Common title of address.
Grace: Short form of the most common greeting, abbreviated from "Grace upon you," itself abbreviated from "Grace upon you, health and wealth, love and children, and on all your line."
Grid: The wire-based communications network of the fair world, corresponding roughly to the state of telephone and telegraph communications of our world in the 1930s. Gaby Donohue Greene is able to project her mind into the Grid and perform tasks such as calling specific phone numbers, tracing calls, and even listening for known voices.
Grim World/Grimworld: The Earth we know, where humans dominate and fair folk races are essentially unknown. It is the twin of the fair world and is mystically connected to it; prior to a point in the European Dark Ages, they were probably the same world. The term "grim world" is the noun form, while "grimworld" is the adjective (e.g., "We travelled to the grim world and hired some grimworld thugs.").
Haps: Standard unit of linear measurement (derived from "half-pace" or "ha'-pace"). About one and a half feet; two haps make up a pace.
Hearer: Element of a talk-box equivalent to a microphone.
Homelord: Landlord of an estate made up of more building than land, such as a city property.
Honeydew: Attractive young woman. Like peach in the grim world.
League of Ardree: An alliance of nations, chiefly kingdoms, of the northern continent of the New World; it roughly corresponds geographically to the United States.
Lib: A coin, usually silver, about one ounce in weight. Worth 200 pennies, or (in today's money) $50. See also dec and penny.
Liftgas: Air enchanted to be lighter than air. Easier to produce than helium and much safer than hydrogen. Many of the fair world's liftships utilize it. However, it is produced only in the League of Ardree and its production is heavily regulated, requiring some liftship operators to rely on hydrogen. Wealthy private liftship operators sometimes use helium instead, since helium cannot as easily be sabotaged through magic.
Liftship: Lighter-than-air craft, usually zeppelins.
Light: One of the three major categories of humanoids on the fair world (see also dark and dusky). Lights tend to be fair-skinned, fair-haired, and light-eyed (especially blue-eyed) and to have a cultural background in northern Europe. The most infamous variety of lights are the Daoine Sidhe, the high-elven race, now almost extinct, to which Doc Sidhe belongs.
Magnacendium: Dynamite. Individual sticks often called magnacendiaries.
Merry: A type of hat, almost identical to the fedora; named after a character named Merry in a play; also called a merry-hat.
No-gear: A gear of standard transmissions, the same as neutral.
Pace: Standard unit of linear measurement. About three feet. One-fiftieth of a pace is a finger; one-half a pace is a haps; 200 paces is a stad; 2,000 paces is a destad; 20,000 paces is a censtad.
Penny: A coin; smallest common monetary unit. Usually copper, small. Worth (in today's money) about a quarter. See also dec and lib.
Rotorkite: Autogyro-like aircraft.
Scrape: To kill; gangster colloquialism.
Seer: Element of a talk-box equivalent to a camera.
Shape-Slinger: A member of the fair folk who is reputed to be able to change his shape.
Sight: The ability to see mystic or psychic strangeness with the naked eye. On the fair world, people often have this ability in one eye and not the other. This is not a term for ESP.
Singer: Squealer, informer. (Colloquial.)
Sounder: Element of a talk-box equivalent to a speaker.
Stad: A measurement of distance: 200 paces. Adapted from the Greek "stade," which is the root of the word "stadium."
Stickbomb: Grenade, potato-masher style.
Stone: A measure of weight, about fifteen pounds.
Talent: A measure of weight, about sixty pounds. Further divided into stones (four to a talent).
Talk-box: A weird-science communications device. There are four types:
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Single: Sound-only receive only. Double: Sound-only send and receive. Triple: Sound-and-vision receive only. Quadruple: Sound-and-vision send and receive. |
Most medium-sized residences have a Single; wealthier homes have a Double. Apartment buildings tend to have one communal Double, with several apartments having Singles installed. Only in wealthier dwellings do you see Triples and Quads. Most entertainment broadcasts are still sound only, but a very few are video also.
Talk-boxes may be wired (transmitting over the Grid) or wireless (transmitting through the Aether).
Elements of a talk-box include the displayer, hearer, seer, and sounder (q.v.).
Talk in: To call via talk-box.
Tallysin Aura: A indicator of how one's magical power manifests itself; the most common sorts of magical practitioners have easily-recognized Tallysin Auras. ("Tallysin" is a corruption of "Taliesin.") Someone with an unusual magical history could have a Tallysin Aura regardless of whether or not he is Gifted.
Tick: Same as a beat.
Treasury: Bank.
Uisge: Whiskey.
Up (number): How many stories up in a building. "Up one" means second story. "Up thirty" means the thirty-first story. Even when descending, one uses this terminology; when descending ten floors from up thirty, one goes up twenty. See down (q.v.).
Water closet: Bathroom, as per British English.
Xioc: A bitter chocolate drink rich in caffeine — the fair world's equivalent of coffee. With milk, it's xioc au lait — sometimes mispronounced by the lower classes almost like "chocolate."
Doc Sidhe is still in print and, though it was published in 1995, is still available in some bookstores. If none of your local bookstores carries it, it can also be obtained from online book distributors such as amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
Doc Sidhe is also, as of April 2001, available as a free download on the Baen Free Library.
Like this:
Like this:
Sidhe-Devil was released in late May, 2001; if the last time you checked your local bookstores was before then, you might give them another look.
If you can't find it in a local bookstore, you will be able to order it from online book distributors such as amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.
URL: http://www.AaronAllston.com/faqsidhe.html. Optimized for Netscape Communicator 7. Maintained by Aaron Allston. |