ABA: loose robe worn by Fremen women; usually black.
ACH: left turn: a worm-steersman's call.
ADAB: the demanding memory that comes upon you of itself
AKARSO: a plant native to Sikun (of 70 Ophiuchi A) characterized by almost oblong leaves. Its green and white stripes indicate the constant multiple condition of parallel active and dormant chlorophyll regions.
ALAM AL-MITHAL: the mystical world of similitudes where all physical limitations are removed.
AL-LAT: mankind's original sun; by usage: any planet's primary.
AMPOLIROS: the legendary "Flying Dutchman" of space.
AMTAL or AMTAL RULE: a common rule on primitive worlds under which something is tested to determine its limits or defects. Commonly: testing to destruction.
AQL: the test of reason. Originally, the "Seven Mystic Questions" beginning: "Who is it that thinks?"
ARRAKEEN: the first settlement on Arrakis; long-time seat of planetary government.
ARRAKIS: the planet known as Dune; third planet of Canopus.
ASSASSINS' HANDBOOK: Third-century compilation of poisons commonly used in a War of Assassins. Later expanded to include those deadly devices permitted under the Guild Peace and Great Convention.
AULIYA: In the Zensunni Wanderers' religion, the female at the left hand of God; God's handmaiden.
AUMAS: poison administered in food. (Specifically: poison in solid food.) In some dialects: Chaumas.
AYAT: the signs of life. (See Burhan.)
BAKKA: in Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind.
BAKLAWA: a heavy pastry made with date syrup.
BALISET: a nine-stringed musical instrument, lineal descendant of the zithra, tuned to the Chusuk scale and played by strumming. Favorite instrument of Imperial troubadors.
BARADYE PISTOL: a static-charge dust gun developed on Arrakis for laying down a large dye marker area on sand.
BARAKA: a living holy man of magical powers.
BASHAR (often Colonel Bashar): an officer of the Sardaukar a fractional point above Colonel in the standardized military classification. Rank created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict. (Bashar of the Corps is a title reserved strictly for military use.)
BATTLE LANGUAGE: any special language of restricted etymology developed for clear-speech communication in warfare.
BEDWINE: see Ichwan Bedwine.
BELA TEGEUSE: fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni (Fremen) forced migration.
BENE GESSERIT: the ancient school of mental and physicaltraining established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyd th so-called "thinking machines" and robots.
B.G.: idiomatic for Bene Gesserit except when used with a date. With a date it signifies Before Guild and identifies the Imperial dating system based on the genesis of the Spacing Guild's monopoly.
BHOTANI JIB: see Chakobsa.
BI-LA KAIFA: Amen. (Literally: "Nothing further need be explained.")
BINDU: relating to the human nervous system, especially to nerve training. Often expressed as Bindu-nervature. (See Prana.)
BINDU SUSPENSION: a special form of catalepsis, self-induced.
BLED: flat, open desert.
BOURKA: insulated mantle worn by Fremen in the open desert.
BURHAN: the proofs of life. (commonly: the ayat and burhan of life. See Ayat.)
BURSEG: a commanding general of the Sardaukar.
BUTLERIAN JIHAD: see Jihad, Butlerian (also Great Revolt).
CAID: Sardaukar officer rank given to a military official whose duties call mostly for dealings with civilians; a military governorship over a full planetary district; above rank of Bashar but not equal to a Burseg.
CALADAN: third planet of Delta Pavonis; birthworld of Paul-Muad'dib.
CANTO and RESPONDU: an invocation rite, part of the panoplia propheticus of the Missionaria Protectiva.
CARYALL: a flying wing (commonly "wing"), the aerial workhorse of Arrakis, used to transport large spice mining, hunting, and refining equipment.
CATCHPOCKET: any stillsuit pocket where filtered water is caught and stored.
CHAKOBSA: the so-called "magnetic language" derived in part from the ancient Bhotani (Bhotani Jib—jib meaning dialect). A collection of ancient dialects modified by needs of secrecy, but chiefly the hunting language of the Bhotani, the hired assassins of the first War of Assassins.
CHAUMAS (Aumas in some dialects): poison in solid food as distingushed from poison administered in some other way.
CHAUMURKY (Musky or Murky in some dialects): poison administered in a drink.
CHEOPS: pyramid chess; nine-level chess with the double object of putting your queen at the apex and the opponent's king in check.
CHEREM: a brotherhood of hate (usually for revenge).
CHOAM: acronym for Combine Honnete Ober advancer Mercantiles—the universal development corporation controlled by the Emperor and the Great Houses with the Guild and Bene Gesserit as silent partners.
CHUSUK: fourth planet of Theta Shalish; the so-called "Music Planet" noted for the quality of its musical instruments. (See Varota).
CIELAGO: any modified Chiroptera of Arrakis adapted to carry distrans messages.
CONE OF SILENCE: the field of a distorter that limits the carrying power of the voice or any other vibrator by damping the vibrations with an image-vibration 180 degrees out of phase.
CORIOLIS STORM: any major sandstorm on Arrakis where winds accross the open flatlands are amplified by the planet's own revolutionary motion to speeds up to 700 kilometers per hour.
CORRIN, BATTLE OF: the space battle from which the Imperial House Corrino took its name. The battle fought near Sigma Draconis in the year 88 B.G. settled the ascendancy of the ruling House from Salusa Secondus.
COUSINES: blood relations beyod cousins.
CRUSHERS: military space vessels composed of many smaller vessels locked together and designed to fall on enemy position, crushing it.
CUTTERRAY: short-range version of lasgun used mostly as a cutting tool and surgeon's scalpel.
CRYSKNIFE: the sacred knife of the Fremen on Arrakis. It is manufactured in two forms from teeth taken from dead sandworms. The two forms are "fixed" and "unfixed." An unfixed knife requires proximity to a human body's electrical field to prevent disintegration. Fixed knives are treated for storage. All are about 20 centimeters long.
DAR AL-HIKMAN: school of religious interpretation or translation.
DARK THINGS: idiomatic for the infectious superstitions taught by the Missionaria Protectiva to susceptible civilizations.
DEATH TRIPOD: originally, the tripod upon which desert executioners hanged their victims. By usage: the three members of a Cherem sworn to the same revenge.
DERCH: right turn; a worm steerman's call.
DEW COLLECTORS or DEW PRECIPITATORS: not to be confused with dew gatherers. Collectors or precipitators are egg-shaped devices about four centimeters on the long a xis. They are made of chromoplastic that turns a reflecting white when subjected to light, and reverts to transparency in darkness. The collector forms a markedly cold surface upon which dawn dew will precipitate. They are used by the Fremen to linw concave planting depressions where they provide a small but reliable source of water.
DEW GATHERERS: workers who reap dew from the plants of Arrakis, using a scythelike dew reaper.
DEMIBROTHERS: sons of concubines in the same household and certified as having the same father.
DICTUM FAMILIA: the rule of the Great Convention which prohibits the slaying of a royal person or member of a Great House by informal treachery. The rule sets up the formal outline and limits the means of assassination.
DISTRANS: a device for producing a temporary neural imprint on the nervous system of a Chiroptera or birds. The creature's normal cry then carries the message imprint which can be sorted from that carrier wave by another distrans.
DRUM SAND: impaction of sand in such a way that any sudden blow against its surface produces a distinct drum sound.
DOORSEAL: a portable plastic hermetic seal used for moisture security in Fremen overday cave camps.
DUMP BOXES: the general term for any cargo container of irregular shape and equipped with ablation surfaces and suspensor damping system. They are used to dump material from space onto a planet's surface.
DUNE MEN: idiomatic for open sand workers, spice hunters and the like on Arrakis. Sandworkers. Spiceworkers.
DUST CHASM: any deep crevasse or depression on the desert of Arrakis that has been filled with dust not apparently different from the surrounding surface; a deadly trap because human or animal will isnk in it and smother. (See Tidal Dust Basin)
ECAZ: fourth palnet of Alpha Centauri B; the sculptors' paradise, so called because it is the home of fogwood, the plant growth capable of being shaped in situ soley by the power of human thought.
EGO-LIKENESS: portraiture reproduced through a shigawire projector that is capable of reproducing subtle movements said to convey the ego essence.
ELACCA DRUG: narcotic formad by burnig blood-grained elacca wood of Ecas. Its effect is to remove most of the will to self-preservation. Druggee skin shows a characteristic carrot color. Commonly used to prepare slave gladiators for the ring.
EL-SAYAL: the "rain of sand." A fall of dust which has been carried to medium altitude (arround 2,000 meters) by a coriolis storm. El-sayals frequently bring moisture to ground level.
ERG: an extensive dune area, a sea of sand.