THE LANGUAGES OF MICTLAN, HUMAN, AND MICCAIL:
The crew of the Ibn Battuta, drawn as they were from a multinational crew, adopted English as their lingua franca. However, most of the crew were at least bilingual, if not relatively fluent in three or four languages. Inevitably, words and phrases from other languages crept into their everyday speech. Well before the Ibn Battuta was launched, during the period when it was being constructed in orbit and the crew members were learning their roles, a subtle patois of many languages had come into common use among the crew and support personnel. The emerging language was almost a Creole, though the largest portion of the vocabulary derived from American English. By the time of their arrival at Mictlan, despite the ship-decades of LongSleep, this convention was firmly in place. New terms and descriptions might as easily be drawn from Cantonese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, or Kiswahili as English, or even (as was the case with the world-name itself) an ancient Native American language such as Nahuatl. For the most part, we have stayed with English for the sake of readability. However, where it seemed appropriate, the terms used by the colonists have been appropriated here.
The sections from the viewpoint of the Miccail themselves contain words drawn from their own language, again where it seemed appropriate. As in Japanese (for instance), the Miccail created conglomerate words composed of smaller, monosyllabic nouns. Thus, “nasituda,” the word for the carved stelae which were the first, most visible signs of the Miccail presence is Stone (“na”) Carved (“si”) Past (“tu”) Speak (“da”): literally, the Carved Stone that Speaks of History, or as we have (more romantically, perhaps, and certainly more freely) translated it here, Telling or Speaking Stone.
The list of human and Miccail words below is by no means exhaustive, and is provided only to give some insight into derivations and meanings.
| aabi | Miccail. Literally, “Ears hearing.” An acknowledgment that you’ve heard and understood what was said to you. |
| AnglSaiye | Miccail. The island, sacred home of the Sa |
| brais | Miccail. Literally, “Sun’s Eye"; the pupilless third eye set high on the forehead of the Miccail. The brais cannot focus and the Miccail do not properly “see” with it. Instead, it serves as a “skylight” and warns them of sudden shifts in light which might signal the approach of a predator. |
| Cha’akMongTi | Miccail: The “crier with a god’s voice” or GodMouth. A prophet, one who speaks with divinely inspired words. |
| Chali | Miccail. The larger of Mictlan’s two moons, dubbed Longago by the human colonists. |
| Che’Veyo | Miccail: Spirit Warrior. |
| CieTiLa | Miccail. Literally, “Those Touched By The Gods.” More simply, it means “The People,” referring to the Miccail as a whole. |
| culear | Human. From Spanish: literally, one who has sexual intercourse with the rear. A gay male. |
| da | Human. Etymology uncertain. The closest meaning is perhaps “Uncle.” Da refers to any male of a person’s Family who is of a generation or more older. |
| danjite ikenai | Human, from Japanese: “Absolutely not” |
| dottó | Human, from Italian: a contraction of “dottore,” or doctor. The English equivalent might be the colloquial “Doc.” |
| Geeda | Human. Etymology uncertain. The eldest male of a Family |
| Geema | Human. Etymology uncertain. The eldest female of a Family |
| hai | Human, from Japanese: “Yes.” |
| hakuchi | Human, from Japanese: “Idiot.” |
| hand | Miccail counting: a “hand” equals four. |
| Ja | Miccail. A suffix indicating a female in servitude |
| Je | Miccail. A suffix indicating a male in servitude |
| jitu | Miccail. A narcotic drink used in Sa rituals. |
| kahina | Miccail: the spirits or minor deities who control the earth, the wind, and the waters. These spirits are responsible for rain, for storms, for floods, for earthquakes. The earth kahina dwell in rocks and trees and sometimes take on animal aspects as well; the water kahina live at the bottom of lakes and underneath the sea, and sometimes manifest themselves in fish; the air kahina live in the clouds, and may sometimes speak to the Miccail through the birds. |
| Kami | Human, from Japanese: a local spirit or minor deity, often inhabting particular trees or stones. Kami are usually confined to a specific location, and could be helpful or not, depending on whim. Sometimes the souls of particularly strong dead people could become kami, inhabiting a place or an object special to them. |
| kasadi | Miccail. Ducklike amphibians who congregate on shorelines during their brief spring mating season. |
| kav | Miccail. An herbal tea |
| khudda | Human, from Syrian (vulgar): used as a profanity: human excrement |
| Kiria | Human, from Latin: Priest or Priestess. Probably derived from Kyrie. |
| komban wa | Human, from Japanese: “Good evening.” |
| KoPavi | Miccail: literally, “Open Door,” or the religious rits and etiquettes of the Miccail which opened their souls to the ShadowWorld where the gods lived. The QualiKa believed that strict adherence to KoPavi was necessary to sustain the Miccail’s well-being as a people. |
| lansa | Miccail: spear. |
| lavativo | Human, from Italian: “Lazybones” |
| mali cvijet | Human, from Serbo-Croatian: “Little Flower"—a term of endearment. |
| mam | Human. Etymology uncertain. “Mother.” Since it was entirely unlikely that anyone could be certain of the father, there is no analogue word for the male parent on Mictlan. |
| marset | Miccail. A small mammalian animal hunted for both its food and fur. |
| mi | Human. Etymology uncertain. The closest meaning is perhaps “Aunt.” It refers to any female of a person’s Family who is older than you, and of whom you’re not a direct descendant (i.e., not your mother, grandmother, etc.) |
| Miccail | Human, from Nahuatl: “The Dead.” On Mictlan, the extinct race of sentient beings who perished a millennium before the arrival of the Ibn Battuta. |
| Mictlan | Human, from Nahuatl: “The Land of the Dead.” In Aztec/Mayan creation myths, this is the Land of the Dead, from where the god Quetzalcoatl brought the bones of man. This was used as the world-name after the bones of a sentient race were found here. mojo ljubav Human, from Serbo-Croatian: “My love” |
| nasituda | Miccail. The Speaking Stone of the Miccail, the carved stelae of crystal which are the most prominent remnants of that extinct race. |
| nei | Human. Etymology uncertain: “Absolutely not!” |
| Njia | Human, from Kiswahili: “The Way.” This is the principal religious/philosophical belief system among the humans on Mictlan. |
| Quali | Miccail. The smaller of Mictlan’s two moons, dubbed Faraway by the human colonists. |
| rezu | Human, from Japanese via Europe: a lesbian. |
| Sa | Miccail. A suffix indicating a Miccail midmale. Nearly all the rare midmales belonged to the Sa sect, a religious colony based on an island. |
| shangaa | Miccail. The long, caftanlike robe that was the main item of clothing worn by the Miccail. Shangaa, woven from the pulp of a native plant, were dyed many bright colors, and varied from plain, utilitarian robes to fine ceremonial costumes. |
| sib | Human, from English: “sibling.” On Mictlan, a sib is anyone of your Family of the same generation, regardless of who the mother was. |
| Ta | Miccail. A suffix for the dominant female in a Miccail tribe, also known as the OldMother. |
| Te | Miccail. a suffix indicating that the person is the OldFather of a Miccail tribe, the dominant male. |
| terduva | Miccail. A segment of time equal to 512 (or 8 X 8 X 8) years. The Miccail, with hands consisting of three fingers and a thumb, counted in base eight. |
| Ti | Miccail. The suffix used for a deity. |
| Tlilipan | Human, from Nahuatl: “place of black water.” Name given to a peat-stained lake near the colony site. |
| Tu | Miccail. The suffix used to designate the head of the Community of Sa. una tortillera Human, from Spanish: in extremely vulgar usage, a lesbian. |
| VeiSaTi | Miccail. One of the gods of the Miccail, the one most sacred to the sect of the Sa. |
| verrechat | Human, from French: “glass cat.” A small, catlike marsupial with transparent or lightly tinted skin and muscles. Sometimes domesticated. |
| wizards | Human. A contraction of “winged lizards"—a type of flying reptile found near the human settlement. |
| Xa | Miccail. A suffix indicating a female of the free caste |
| Xe | Miccail. A suffix indicating a male of the free caste |
| xeshai | Miccail. Literally, “Second Fight"—a ritualbound two person combat that was the usual method for solving severe disagreements between Miccail tribes. Each Te or Ta would choose a champion from among the Xe or Xa to represent them. In rare cases, xeshai might be group combat, but even then there were specific rules limiting how the conflict would be handled. |