The Dictionary

The Dictionary is an authoritative lexicon referenced within the narrative. Its entries present multiple senses for a term and note how meanings vary across historical and disciplinary forms of Orth.

First noted appearance and context

An entry defining “Extramuros” is quoted, presenting four senses labeled by Orth tradition: Old Orth, Middle Orth, Praxic Orth, and New Orth. The quotation is attributed to “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000.”

Other quoted entries

• “Kefedokhles,” with two senses: (1) Kefedokhles, a fid from the Halls of Orithena who survived the eruption of Ecba, later remembered in the great dialogs (notably Uraloabus) and associated with the Forty Lesser Peregrins and a period on the Periklyne; (2) by extension, an insufferably smug or pedantic interlocutor. Cited as “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000.”
• “Cloister,” with four numbered senses distinguished by Orth traditions (Old Orth, Early Middle Orth, Late Middle Orth, New Orth). The citation likewise reads “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000.”
• “Aut,” distinguishing two principal senses: (1) in Proto and Old Orth, an act or deed taken by an individual; (2) in Middle and later Orth, a formal rite conducted by an assembly of avout through which the math or concent performs a collective act, often solemnized by chants, coded gestures, or other ritual behavior. The citation is “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000.”
• “Mystagogue,” with senses that track historical usage: (1) in Early Middle Orth, a theorician who specialized in unsolved problems and introduced fids to that study; (2) in Late Middle Orth, a member of a suvin that discouraged theoric research, locked libraries, and made a fetish of mysteries while dominating the maths from the middle of the Negative Twelfth Century until the Rebirth; (3) in Praxic and later Orth, a pejorative for anyone resembling those of sense 2. Cited as “THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, A.R. 3000.”
• “Saunt,” an honorific of veneration in New Orth applied to great thinkers, almost always posthumously. The entry notes its formal acceptance at a Millennial Orth Convox dated A.R. 3000, its historical entanglement with “Savant,” and orthographic/abbreviation conventions such as all-caps stone renderings (SAVANT) and “St.” It also records variant forms arising from letter-shape confusions after a period of decline, including “SAUANT,” with “saunt” now accepted and “sant” deprecated. See also Saunt.

Structure and features

• Entries are organized into numbered senses with brief explanations.
• Each sense may be annotated with the Orth tradition it reflects (e.g., Proto Orth, Old Orth, Early Middle Orth, Late Middle Orth, Praxic Orth, New Orth).
• Citations present the work’s title in uppercase (“THE DICTIONARY”) and include edition and era notation.
• Some entries include notes on acceptance, pronunciation, and orthography (e.g., abbreviations like “St.” and historical letter confusions), in addition to definitions.
• The work covers both technical terms and proper names; some entries also record eponymous usage derived from those names (e.g., “Kefedokhles”).

Example of usage

The “Extramuros” entry illustrates the Dictionary’s approach: beginning with a literal sense (“outside the walls”), then extending to broader social and geographic meanings associated with the mathic world and nearby settlements beyond a math.

Role so far

The Dictionary serves as an in-text authority framing terminology used by characters and settings.

Current status

Known through quoted entries; its physical location, custodians, and compilation process have not been specified.