boíla—A nobleman’s title, used by Bulgar aristocracy between the 7th and 10th centuries. The aristocracy was split into great boílas, small boílas, and bagains—military commanders who held less power than the boílas. A great boíla was the highest title after the khan. Later, all these noblemen become known as boyars. Note that the word is usually transliterated as “boila” without the acute accent on the “i”—I’ve added the accent to give a hint that “i” is the stressed syllable.
boyar—A Slavic nobleman’s title, possibly originally derived from boíla. Other forms include bolyar or bolyarin.
jötnar—Plural form of jötunn. Entities in Norse mythology, distinct from gods, elves, or dwarfs, but possibly including other creatures, such as trolls. While many are described as hideous giants, they are not all large, and some can be exceedingly beautiful. Odin is believed to have descended from the jötnar.
jötunheimr—One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology that are held in the branches and roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. Home of the Jötnar, this world is covered in rocks, dense forests and snow, with no fertile land. Because of this, its inhabitants survive only on the fish in the rivers and the animals in the forests.
kanasubigi—A Great Khan. The title is used by some khans in Krum’s Dynasty.
khaganate—A political entity ruled by a khan. An alternative form is khanate.
khan—Originally, the title of rulers of tribal entities in multiple regions across the Eurasian Steppe. From around the 7th century on, it is used as a title of the ruler of a sovereign state, roughly equivalent to “king.”
knyaz—A Slavic nobleman’s title, roughly equivalent to “prince,” but at different times and places could refer to anything from a village elder to a king. In the historical context here, it refers to a ruler of an independent state.
kumis—A drink made of fermented mare’s milk that existed since at least the 5th century BC. Mare’s milk is extremely high in lactose, which makes it a very powerful laxative and nearly undrinkable in its natural state. After fermentation, the lactose is broken down, and the drink can be safely consumed even by the lactose intolerant. Alcohol levels can reach up to 2.5% but can be further increased through freeze distillation, which the nomads of Central Asia discovered early on.
midgard—One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology and home of the humans. Literally translates as “middle earth” as it’s in the middle of the worlds, right underneath Asgard, the home of the gods. Midgard is in the middle of an unpassable ocean, surrounded by a huge serpent that encircles it completely and bites at its own tail. The world is connected to Asgard via the rainbow bridge Bifrost.
nestinarki—Female form of nestinari. Ritual dancers who perform barefooted over smoldering embers. Versions of this custom are still performed nowadays in regions of Bulgaria and Greece. The Greek version of the ritual is called Anastenaria.
niflheim—One of the nine worlds in Norse mythology and the coldest and darkest of them all. All cold rivers in the world come from a well called Hvergelmir, which is where all life starts and all living beings will return in the end.
numismata—Latin plural of numisma. Currency in Medieval Byzantium. Transliterated from the Ancient Greek νόμισμα, literally “coin.”
samodiva—Samodivas are nymph-like creatures in South Slavic folklore. Unearthly beautiful women, with long flowing hair and magical eyes that can enchant and even kill. Dressed in white, with a long cloak-like veil that holds their power. They live in the mountains, in huge old trees, abandoned huts or dark caves, close to rivers and wells. At night, they dance by the lakes, and no dance is more beautiful than theirs, but they hide at dawn as they fear the sunlight. They come to the human world only between spring and autumn, and in winter live in the mythical village Zmeikovo, at the end of the world. They love all music, especially all songs played on a kaval (a wooden, end-blown flute,) which is why they often kidnap shepherds and force them to play.
Some believe samodivas are magical creatures, others—that they are dead human women who were so sinful in life that neither heaven nor hell wanted them. Some stories claim they kidnap the maidens they like and turn them into samodivas. Humans can protect themselves with garlic, ash, bones of a dead woman, frankincense, or dry snakeskin. If a man steals a samodiva’s veil—also called her ‘shadow’—while she is bathing, she will turn into a mortal woman and marry him, but she will never be an obedient housewife and will keep trying to regain her freedom.
sklábos—From the Byzantine Greek σκλάβος—slave. The word is identical to the old Byzantine word for “a Slav,” which is why in the Middle Ages many believed that was how the word sklábos was originally derived. The explanation made some sense at the time—Slavs, being non-Christian, were often enslaved by both the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium. Vlad uses this as an argument to convince Erniké that large empires, such as Byzantium, always treat the native people badly. However, while the theory that the words for “slave” and “Slav” have the same root appears in German texts from the 9th and 10th century, nowadays this is regarded as pseudo-etymology and propaganda to justify the mass enslavements. Modern etymologists believe the Byzantine word for “slave” is actually derived from the verb skuleúō, “to get the spoils of war,” and the similarity to the word for “Slav” is completely coincidental. Thus, Vlad’s argument is partially inaccurate.