Gorean hour
There is also a system of latitude
and longitude figured on the basis of the Gorean day, calculated in
Ahn, twenty of which constitute a Gorean day, and Ehn and Ihn,
which are subdivisions of the Ahn, or Gorean hour.
Nomads
Bana
Precious beads - such as pearls
See quote for Bina
Bina
Slave beads
Eta lightly lifted herself to her feet and went to the cave. In a few moments,
she emerged. She carried, in her hands, several strings of beads, simple
necklaces, with small, wooden, colored beads. They were not valuable.
She held the necklaces up for me to see. Then, with her finger, moving them on
their string, she indicated the tiny, colored wooden beads. "Da Bina," she
said, smiling. Then she lifted a necklace, looking at it. "Bina," she said.
I then understood that ‘Bina’ was the expression for beads, or for a necklace
of beads. The necklaces and beads which Eta produced for me were delights of
color and appeal; yet they were simple and surely of little value.
I took from the chest a string of pearls, then one of pieces of gold, then one
of rubies. "Bina?" I asked, each time. Eta laughed. "Bana," she said, "Ki
Bina. Bana." Then, from another box, Eta produced another necklace, one with
cheap glass beads, and another with simple, small wooden beads. She indicated
the latter two necklaces. "Bina," she said, pointing to them. Bina, I then
understood, were lesser beads, cheap beads, beads of little value, save for
their aesthetic charm. Indeed, I would later learn that bina were sometimes
spoken of, derisively, as Kajira bana. The most exact translation of ‘bina’
would probably be "slave beads." They were valueless, save for being a cheap
adornment sometimes permitted imbonded wenches.
Slave Girl
Carnarium
refuse pit (garbage dump)
“You could have retrieved from a carnarium,” I said. This was one of the great
refuse pits outside the walls.
Magicians
Clepsydra
Water Clock
Picture & description of a Clepsydra
Book Reference
Falarina
Not a virgin
Though the word was not used of me I was also 'profalarina', which term
designates the state proceeding, and anticipating, that of "falarina," the
state Goreans seem to think of as that of being a full women, or, at least,
as those of Earth might think of it, one who certainly is no longer a virgin.
Dancer
Glana
Virgin
The buyers were also informed that I was "glana," or a virgin.
Dancer
Gor
Homestone
'Gor,' he said, 'is the name of this world. In all the
languages of this planet, the word means Home Stone.' He
paused, noting my lack of comprehension. 'Home Stone,' he
repeated. 'Simply that.'
Tarnsman
Hith
Gorean python
One such serpent was the huge, many-banded Gorean python, the hith.
Outlaw
Kajira
slave girl
"Ten kajirae," he said. This word was the plural of 'kajira' which was one of
the words, the most common one, for what we were. It means, 'slave girl',
'slave woman', 'she-slave', that sort of thing. The brand on my left thigh was
a cursive 'kef', the first letter in the word 'kajira'. The best translation
is doubtless 'slave girl'.
Dancer
Kajiri
slaves, plural
One of the traces of Earth influence on Gorean, incidentally, in this case,
an influence from Latin, occurs in the singular and plural endings of
certain expressions. For example, ‘kajirus’ is a common expression in Gorean for a male slave as is ‘kajira’ for a female slave. The plural for slaves considered together, both male and female, or for more than one male slave is ‘kajiri’. The plural for female slaves is ‘kajirae’.
Magicians page 437
Kajirus
male slave
I heard the word `Kajirus', which I would later learn was an expression for a
male slave,
Fighting Slave
Ki
signifies negation
Mountains, which for the purposes of calculating direction play a
role analogous to our north pole; the two main directions, so to speak,
in the Gorean way of thinking are Ta-Sardar-Var and Ta-Sardar-Ki-
Var, or as one would normally say, Var and Ki-Var; 'Var' means a
turning and 'Ki' signifies negation; thus, rather literally, one might
speak of 'turning to the Sardar' and 'not turning to the Sardar', some-
thing like either facing north or not facing north;
Ta-Sardar-Var
is a direction which appears on all Gorean maps; Ta-Sardar-Ki-Var,
of course, never appears on a map, since it would be any direction
which is not Ta-Sardar-Var.
Nomads
Kurt
5 lashed whip
Eta lifted up a stout whip, with long handle, which might be wielded with two
hands, and five dangling, soft, wide lashing surfaces, each about a yard long.
"Kurt," she said. I shrank back. "Kurt," I repeated.
Slave Girl
Lar-Torvis
Sun
Oddly enough, one of the expressions in the
tongue of Gor for our sun was Lar-Torvis, which means The
Central Fire, another Pythagorean expression, except that it
had not been, as I understand it, originally used by the
Pythagoreans to refer to the sun but to another body.
Tarnsman
Leech plant
Carnivorous plant
Two fangs had struck into my calf. An ost, I thought! But the fangs held
fast, and I heard the popping, sucking sound of the bladderlike seed pods of a
leech plant, as they expanded and contracted like small ugly lungs. I reached
down and jerked the plant from the soil at the side of the road. It writhed
in my hand like a snake, its pods gasping. I jerked the two fanglike thorns
from my leg. The leech plant strikes like a cobra, and fastens two hollow
thorns into its victim. The chemical responses of the bladderlike pods
produce a mechanical pumping action, and the blood is sucked into the plant
to nourish it.
Outlaw
Ost
Poisonous, foot-long, orange reptile
One to be feared even more perhaps was the tiny ost, a venemous, brilliantly
orange reptile little more than a foot in length, whose bite spelled an
excruciating death within seconds.
Outlaw
Pagar Sa-Tarna
Paga - a grain based brew
The Older Tarl and I may have drunk too much of that
fermented brew concocted with fiendish skill from the yellow
grain, Sa-Tarna, and called Pagar Sa-Tarna, Pleasure of the
Life-Daughter, but almost always 'Paga' for short.
Tarnsman
Pasang
7/10 of a mile
A Gorean pasang is approximately .7 of a mile.
Outlaw
Pasang stone
Stone markers placed along roads at intervals of a pasang
I recognized it, and even had I not, the cylindrical pasang stones that marked
its length were each inscribed with the sign of the city and the appropriate
pasang count to its walls.
Outlaw
Rep
Whitish, fibrous plant material used to make cloth
Rep is a whitish fibrous matter found in the seed pods of a small, reddish,
woody bush, commercially grown in several areas, but particularly below Ar
and above the equator; the cheap re-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in
various cities; it takes dyes well and, being cheap and strong, is popular,
particularly among the lower castes.
Raiders
Sa-Tarna
Grain, a staple crop
Economically, the base of the Gorean life was the free
peasant, which was perhaps the lowest but undoubtedly the
most fundamental caste, and the staple crop was a yellow
grain called Sa-Tarna, or Life-Daughter.
Tarnsman
Sa-Tassna
Meat, or more gnerally - food
Interestingly
enough, the word for meat is Sa-Tassna, which means Life-
Mother. Incidentally, when one speaks of food in general,
one always speaks of Sa-Tassna.
Tarnsman
Sirik
Loops of chain with ankle & wrist rings and a collar
She lifted up some loops of chain; there were linked ankle rings and linked
wrist rings, and a lock collar, all connected by a length of gleaming chain
running from the collar. It was rather lovely. It was too small for a man.
I knew, however, it would fit me, perfectly, "Sirik," said Eta. "Sirik," I
repeated.
Slave Girl
Sleen
Six legged, furred carnivore
Then I saw it, on its six short legs, undulate across the road, like a furred
lizard, its pointed, whiskered snout swaying from side to side testing the
wind.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
It was indeed a young sleen, not more than eight feet long, and it lacked the
patience of an older animal.
Outlaw
Thassa
The Sea
Ko-ro-ba lay in the midst of green and rolling hills, some hundreds of feet
above the level of the distant Tamber Gulf and that mysterious body of water
beyond it, spoken of in Gorean simply as Thassa, the Sea.
(Note, it is never "the" Thassa, but simply "Thassa")
Outlaw
Tor-Tu-Gor
Sun
The
more common expression for the sun was Tor-tu-Gor, which
means Light Upon the Home Stone.
Tarnsman
Ul
Giant pterodactyl native to the Vosk Delta
Also, at night, crossing the bright disks of Gor's three moons might
occasionally be seen the silent, predatory shadow of the ul, a giant
pterodactyl ranging far from its native swamps in the delta of the Vosk.
Outlaw
Var
turning
'Var' means a
turning and 'Ki' signifies negation; thus, rather literally, one might
speak of 'turning to the Sardar' and 'not turning to the Sardar',
Nomads
Vart
Blind, batlike flying rodent
Perhaps I most dreaded those nights filled with the shrieks of the vart pack, a
blind, batlike swarm of flying rodents, each the size of a small dog. They
could strip a carcass in a matter of minutes, each carrying back some
fluttering ribbon of flesh to the recesses of whatever dark cave the swarm
had chosen for its home. Moreover, some vart packs were rabid.
Outlaw
Gorean Vocabulary
