The Dictionary

The Dictionary is an authoritative in-world lexicon. Its entries present multiple senses for a term and note how meanings vary across historical and disciplinary forms of Orth. The cited 4th edition (A.R. 3000) sometimes records brief historical notes, usage notes, and editorial positions on how a term has been understood.

First Appearance and Context

Quotations attribute entries to “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000” (see The Dictionary (4th Edition)). Examples include the headwords Avout, Extramuros, and Newmatter, which lay out numbered senses and tag them by Orth tradition; another example is “Liaison,” presented with multiple senses and period labels. The “Newmatter” entry defines such materials and notes, as part of the First Sack reforms, that avout were forbidden to pursue further work on them; it also states that small amounts are still made within the mathic world for bolts, chords, and spheres, and that they see use extramuros. Further examples include “Bulshytt,” which presents senses across Fluccish and Orth and adds a usage note distinguishing mathic versus Sæculum connotations; it concludes that resolving the social dilemma lies beyond the work’s scope and is best left to hierarchs who interact with the Sæculum.

Additionally, the headword “Calca” is cited with senses that illustrate semantic change across Orth: first denoting chalk or a marking substance, later a calculation (especially tedious or detailed), and in later periods an explanatory note or lesson set apart from the main text in a footnote or appendix.

A further cited entry is “to go Hundred,” marked as derogatory slang meaning to lose one’s mind or to stray irredeemably from the path of theorics. The note traces the phrase to the Third Centennial Apert, recounting striking outcomes reported at several Hundreders’ maths and concluding that such mishaps prompted the creation of the Inquisition and the modern configuration of hierarchs, including Wardens Regulant empowered to inspect and impose discipline across all maths.

Roles/Actions and Affiliations

• Serves as an in-text authority for usage within the Mathic World, distinguishing senses by era and discipline in Orth.
• Notes orthography, abbreviations, or pronunciation where helpful, and occasionally appends historical context or scholarly viewpoints.
• Provides usage notes that may caution against pejorative senses or highlight rhetorical subterfuge, and may point readers beyond lexical scope to institutional authorities.

Relationships

• Cited by avout and narrators as a standard reference; no compiler, editor, or sponsoring order has been identified in the material available so far.
• Individual entries may allude to maths, concents, orders, and historical periods; these are treated as contextual signals rather than ascriptions of authorship.

Descriptions/Characteristics

• Citation style appears in uppercase ("THE DICTIONARY") with edition and date (e.g., "4th edition, A.R. 3000").
• Entries are structured as numbered senses across periods of Orth. Selected examples:
• Avout: includes senses for an individual who has sworn to the Cartasian Discipline, a plurality of such persons, and a community of them (e.g., a math).
• Extramuros: ranges from the literal "outside the walls" to a contrast term for the non‑mathic world, depending on period and context.
• Liaison: multiple senses with period labels, including social rules and later usage notes that distinguish institutional from popular meanings.

Current Status/Location

Known through cited excerpts; the compilers and physical location of the work have not been specified.