Neal Stephenson - Anathem

Hemn space:What is called configuration, state, or phase space on Earth.

Hierarch:One of a specialized caste of avout whose responsibilities include the administration of maths and concents, interaction with the Sæcular world and with hierarchs in other maths, defense of the math from Sæcular molestation, policing, and maintenance of the Discipline.

Hundred, to go:To lose one’s mind, to become mentally unsound, to stray iredeemably from the path of theorics.

Hundreder:Informal term for a Centenarian (see).

Hylaea:One of the two daughters of Cnoüs, the other being Deät. She interpreted her father’s vision as meaning that he had glimpsed a higher and more perfect world (the Hylaean Theoric World or HTW) populated by pure geometric forms, crudely copied by geometers in this world.

Hylaean Theoric World:The name used by most adherents of Protism to denote the higher plane of existence populated by perfect geometric forms, theorems, and other pure ideas (cnoöns)

Hypotrochian Transquaestiation:Only one of a very large number of rhetorical tactics drilled into fids, particularly those under the tutelage of Procians. It means to change the subject in such a way as to assert, implicitly, that a controversial point has already been settled one way or the other.

Iconography:An oversimplified and, in most cases, wildly inaccurate schema used by Sæculars to make sense of what little they know of the mathic world, often taking the form of a conspiracy theory or an allusion to characters and situations from popular entertainments.

Icosahedron:A roughly spherical geometric figure with twenty faces, each of which is an equilateral triangle.

Inbrase:A rarely celebrated aut in which Peregrins are welcomed back into the mathic world following a journey through the Sæculum.

Incanter:A legendary figure, associated in folklore with Halikaarnian orders, said to be able to alter physical reality by the incantation of certain coded words or phrases.

Inquisition:Global body charged with maintaining uniform standards of the Discipline across all maths and concents, typically acting through the Wardens Regulant.

Inviolate:One of the three Millenarian maths that was never breached during the seven decades of the Third Sack. The Three Inviolates were at the Concents of Saunt Edhar, Saunt Rambalf, and Saunt Tredegarh.

Ita:A caste dwelling in the mathic world but segregated from the avout, responsible for all functions having to do with syntactic devices and the Reticulum.

Jeejah:Ubiquitous handheld electronic device used by Sæculars, combining functions of mobile telephone, camera, network browser, etc. Forbidden in the mathic world.

Jumpweed:A ubiquitous weed that when chewed acts as a stimulant. Psychoactive in larger doses. One of the Eleven.

Kedev:A devotee of the Kelx or Triangle faith.

Kefedokhles:A smug, pedantic interlocutor.

Kelx:(1) A religious faith created during the Sixteenth or Seventeenth Century A.R. The name is a contraction of the Orth Ganakelux meaning “Triangle place,” so called because of the symbolic importance of triangles in the faith’s iconography. (2) An ark of the Kelx faith.

Kinagrams:A simple set of ideograms used by Sæculars in place of a written language per se.

Laboratorium:At a Convox, a daily work session, typically in the morning, in which the attendees gather in groups to which they have been assigned by the hierarchs and pursue specific projects.

Lesper’s Coordinates:Also called Saunt Lesper’s Coordinates. Equivalent to Cartesian coordinates on Earth.

Liaison, Atlanian:An unusual type of liaison between a Tenner and a partner who dwells extramuros, therefore only capable of being consummated every ten years.

Liaison, Etrevanean:A liaison roughly equivalent to going steady in the Sæcular world.

Liaison, Perelithian:A liaison equivalent to marriage in the Sæcular world.

Liaison, Tivian:The most casual and ephemeral type of liaison.

Liaison:A relationship, typically sexual or at least romantic, in the mathic world.

Lineage, Old:According to some traditions, an unbroken chain of mentors and fids beginning with Metekoranes and extending all the way to the era in which Anathem is set, and as such, constituting a community of theors more ancient than, and separate from, the mathic tradition founded by Saunt Cartas.

Lineage:In general, a chronological sequence of avout who, prior to the Third Sack reforms, acquired and held property exceeding the bolt, chord, and sphere, each conferring the property upon a chosen heir at the moment of death. In this sense, frequently connected with Dowments. Also, sometimes used as a shorthand term for the Old Lineage; see Lineage, Old.

Loctor:Informal contraction of Interlocutor, meaning one’s partner in a Dialog.

Logotype:A simple writing system used by Sæculars but, during the time in which Anathem is set, being rendered obsolete by Kinagrams.

Lorite:A member of an Order founded by Saunt Lora, who believed that all of the ideas that the human mind was capable of coming up with had already been come up with. Lorites are, therefore, historians of thought who assist other avout in their work by making them aware of others who have thought similar things in the past, and thereby preventing them from re-inventing the wheel.

Lucub:At a Convox, an informal work group that, on the members’ own initiative, meets in the evening to “burn the midnight oil” on some topic of shared interest.

Ma:An informal term of respect by which a fid might address a more senior suur.

Magister:Title bestowed on the clergy of the Kelx faith.

Matarrhite:One of an Order founded at the Centenarian math of the Concent of Saunt Beedle’s between the Second and Third Centennial Aperts. One of the few explicitly religious Orders of avout. Reclusive even by the standards of the mathic world. During the Third Sack they fled to an island in the southern polar regions, where they developed various distinctive cultural traits, including bolts that covered their entire bodies and an austere cuisine based on the limited range of edible things in their environment.

Math:A relatively small community of avout (typically fewer than a hundred, sometimes as small as one). In general, all members of a given math celebrate Apert on the same schedule, i.e., all of them are either Unarians, Decenarians, Centenarians, or Millenarians. Compare Concent.

Messal:At certain (typically larger and older) concents, the traditional way of taking the evening meal, in which no more than seven senior avout (doyns) are waited on by an equal number of junior avout (servitors).

Metatheorics:Equivalent to metaphysics on Earth. The part of human thought that addresses questions so fundamental that they must be settled before one can even begin to do productive work in theorics.

Metekoranes:A theor of ancient times who was buried under volcanic ash in the eruption that destroyed Orithena. According to some traditions, the founder (probably unwittingly) of the Old Lineage. See Lineage, Old.