Melissa Scott - Shadow Man

tri: one of the nine sexual preferences generally recognized by Concord culture; denotes a person who prefers to be intimate with persons of exactly the same and both of the “opposite” genders.

uni: one of the nine sexual preferences generally recognized by Concord culture; denotes a person who prefers to be intimate with persons of one of the two “like” genders.

woman: human being possessing ovaries, XX chromosomes, and some aspects of female genitalia; she, her, her, herself.

advocate: man or woman trained in written and customary law, and certified by his or her clan as someone who has the right to speak for others before the clan and Watch courts.

assignat , assignats : paper currency issued by one of the five Watches and backed by that Watch’s contracts with the various pharmaceuticals; each Watch currency has a slightly different rate of exchange, which varies from season to season, but in general White Watch currency is strongest against the concord dollar, then Red, Blue, Black, and finally Green.

baanket : dinner given at Midsummer by one of the fourteen clans to which all clan members are in theory invited, the original purpose having been for the clan leader to demonstrate his power by his ability to feed all his dependents; in practice, baanket s are now hosted by the wealthier mesnie s, and serve to reaffirm status within the clan as well as to renew lineal ties.

baas : informal honorific, used from an inferior to a superior who is in some sense a friend.

babee -story: fairy tale, fable.

bonne, bonne-faitou : female servant, usually related to her employer by clan or mesnie ties.

caleche: an expensive, six-wheeled passenger vehicle, with separate compartments for driver(s) and passengers; used as a status symbol.

Centennial Meeting: planetary assembly held once every one hundred years, counting from the year that settlers first landed on Hara; the Meeting stands somewhat outside the normal rule of law and custom, and at least in theory any Haran has the right to attend and address the Meeting.

chanter: man or woman trained to sing the traditional work chaunts ; still a valued and high-status position despite the increasing mechanization of labor.

chaunt : traditional work-song used to give the cadence for repetitive physical labor (hauling lines, chopping wood, etc.).

clan-cousin: technically, a man or woman within one’s own age cohort in the shared clan who is not otherwise related; in common usage, a man or woman of one’s clan to whom one feels some tie or obligation, but to whom one is not more closely related; the use of the term generally expresses a sense of affection and kinship between the people concerned.

clan: one of the fourteen political, social, and familial groupings that form the basis of Haran society; although the people within the first clans were not actually related, but chose to affiliate themselves with one of the original fourteen founders, at this point the clans are interrelated in complex and often confusing fashion. Each clan controls a particular territory, and, as one result, surnames are not used on Hara, as the majority of people in any one location would have the same (clan) surname. The original territories varied in the quality and abundance of their resources, and the Stane clan has parleyed their original good luck into economic and political dominance. The fourteen clans are: Aldman, Blithman, Casnot, Delacoste, Donavie, Ferane, Landeriche, Makpays, Massingberd, Maychilder, Newcomen, Stane, Stiller, and Trencevent.

counterpoint: the highest pitched of the traditional dance drums; as the name implies, it usually plays variations on the middle or bass line that carries the dance rhythm.

countre : another name for a counterpoint drum.

coupelet: passenger vehicle, common in urban areas, used by hire-companies to carry middle- and high-status passengers.

coy : literally, “sweetie” or “darling"; a generic and not necessarily intimate endearment with ironic overtones.

dance house, dance houses: a public or private club, sometimes also selling food, drink, and drugs, where patrons meet to dance and frequently to engage in trade.

dandi : colloquial term for a mem or the active partner in a homo- sexual relationship; the implication is “trying hard, but not re- ally a man.”

docker, dockers: man or woman who works on the Bonemarche docks, either as day labor or for the harbormaster himself; this group is outside most of the traditional kinship networks, and has always been both marginalized and highly politicized.

draisine: small, six-wheeled cargo vehicle with either an open or enclosed cargo bed, used to gather and transport the land-harvest; requires minimal roads even in the deep jungle.

Embankment: streets overlooking the harbor and Harbor Market of Bonemarche; the district where most of the city’s trade takes place.

entrait : the opening bars of a drummed dance, signaling both the dance and the intended pace.

Equatoriale: the area of the main continent on and south of the equator, mostly deep jungle; the territory was assigned to the Ferane, Newcomen, Blithman, Aldman, and Trencevent clans at settlement, though Casnot disputes some of Newcomen’s claims. Historically, the area has been both relatively poor and extremely traditional.

Estaern: the northeastern coast of the main continent, assigned to the Delacoste, Makpays, and Landeriche clans at settlement; Estaern is also the largest urban area in the district, and both district and city have a reputation for avoiding politics at all costs.

faitou , faitou s: a servant or servants of either gender, usually related to his or her employer by clan or mesnie ties.

franca : the dialect spoken on Hara; not closely related to the Concord Creole.

garce : literally an offensive word for boy, used for homosexual women, particularly women perceived as behaving as men, and for mems.

gellion : offensive word for herms, also used for mems and fems, emphasizing the perceived sterility of any relationship; most common in traditional areas.

ghost rana: an offshoot of the traditional political song- and-dance groups, conceived as a mirror-image and reversal of their power; unlike a traditional rana, a ghost rana makes no noise, but will act, and act violently, to restore its conception of order. Ghost ranas tend to be traditional in their beliefs.

gran’mesnie : social structure intermediate between a mesnie and the clan; it is composed of from 3 to 10 mesnie s generally claiming a common line of descent. Gran ’ mesnie s are common only in the larger clans.

halving : politest, though still potentially insulting, colloquial term for a herm, and by extension for mems and fems as well; literally means half-and-half, and implies that one is neither man nor woman.

harvest: generic term for the flora collected for export and local use; delivered to the off-world companies twice a year at Midsummer and Midwinter.