Glossary of Otherwise Known Terms
Reminded of this by a comment on G+, I thought I’d put together a list for y’all of the various terms used here and there in the Eldraeverse for concepts (mostly, but not universally, sciency) that match up to concepts we have here on Earth, but which for various reasons – often involving different discoverers, perspectives, etc. – obviously don’t have the same name.
(A translation table for which, in addition to clarifying, is also helpful in case anyone needs to look something up…)
Herewith, then, is a quick-reference list:
| Imperial | Terran |
| aerobic/anaerobic | (do not necessarily refer strictly to oxygen *there*) |
| Ardinan probability | Bayesian probability |
| Atagavia’s Limit | the Bekenstein bound |
| blue-blotch fever blue-blotch syndrome |
radiation sickness |
| boson1 condensate | Bose-Einstein condensate |
| Callaneth mechanics | Newtonian (classical) mechanics |
| Callaneth’s Lemma2 | Newton’s Third Law |
| Chronological Consistency Protection Theorem (also Block Universe Theory) |
Novikov self-consistency principle, with later quantum-mechanical extensions |
| clanking replicator | Von Neumann machine |
| classical elements | not our four; *there*, the six designated pre-chemistry elements are Air, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Stone |
| clionomy cliodynamics |
psychohistory3 |
| consciousness loop | Cartesian theater |
| constellation | (refers to clusters of close-linked stargates as well as star patterns) |
| divided-particle process | Penrose process |
| ecopoesis | terraforming |
| fission cell | (small) radiothermal generator |
| gallé | near infrared |
| gravity well maneuver | Oberth effect |
| Greater Ancíël Whirl | the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| hidden cog (metaphor) | invisible hand (likewise) |
| horizon radiation | Hawking radiation |
| iatropsychics | psychiatry (well, sort of) |
| Indeterminacy Barrier | Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle |
| Isif Theorem | (not proven *here*; a non-constructive proof that P=NP) |
| ivén | low ultraviolet |
| kernel4 | Kerr-Newman black hole (or, rather, specifically the “industrial-grade” kind) |
| Laras globule | Bok globule |
| Lesser Ancíël Whirl | the Small Magellanic Cloud |
| libration point6 | Lagrange point |
| Lorith cage | Faraday cage |
| Luminal Limit | the speed of light |
| nuclear magnetic resonance imaging5 | magnetic resonance imaging |
| minimum delta transfer | Hohmann transfer |
| nucleonic device/weapon | nuclear device/weapon |
| overweave | virtual private network |
| powercell | rechargeable battery7 |
| rainbow glass | trinitite (well, created by the same mechanism, but of somewhat different composition)7 |
| sapphireglass | transparent ceramic alumina |
| Senna’s Belt | the Kuiper belt |
| Seredháïc-class ice miner | equivalent of a Kuck mosquito |
| serís | high ultraviolet |
| (the) Shards8 | the Oort cloud |
| slate | tablet (computer) |
| slugthrower | gun; not necessarily firearm, but a KE-based projectile weapon |
| snaplight | glow stick |
| social disease | (not a euphemism for an STI; an epidemic toxic meme, rather) |
| sophont9 | person |
| sophontology | anthropology (only less, y’know, racist10) |
| Stannic cogitator | Babbage engine |
| Stannic-computable | Turing computable |
| Starfall Arc | the Milky Way |
| sunblade | a (weaponized) thermal lance |
| swarmweave | flash mob |
| sweetmilk | honeyed yoghurt drink |
| Sylithandríël’s Daughters hypothesis | Gaia hypothesis (Lovelock, et. al.) |
| Talith Drive Lemma | Tsiolkovsky rocket equation |
| technecology | what the Internet of Things wants to be when it grows up |
| theobrom | (fabbed) hot chocolate drink |
| synthdrink | soft drink (although not all of them are) |
| tessera | Planck granularity |
| Theory of Relativistics | Theory of Relativity |
| Tiráms manifold | Calabi-Yau manifold |
Footnotes:
1. I draw the line at renaming uncapitalized particles. We’ll call that a translation artifact.
2. “No credit for partial answers, maggot!”
3. Okay, so this one doesn’t actually exist on Earth, but the question has come up…
4. Which, yes, I got from Atomic Rockets here – their local etymology is appropriate, though, because their chief usage is as the kernels of stargates and of contraterragenesis plants.
5. Some people aren’t scared of the big bad n-word…
6. Which is also a perfectly valid term *here*, yes, but the point is that they don’t call ’em Lagrange points.
7. Although their version is made of stacked superconducting loops.
8. Metaphorically, the shards of the shattered crystal sphere (theory).
9. Yes, even in relatively common usage.
10. “You humans are all racist!”