A Broken Paradise (The Windows of Heaven Book 3) (45 page)

gryphon –
A flying dragon known for its talons and sharp bill. Fossils of this creature fall into the
Pteranodon
family.

Heh’Bul –
The biblical Abel.

Hiddekhel –
The biblical pre-Flood river Hiddekel of Genesis 2, which was associated with the post-Flood river Tigris. It is possible that the post-Flood river was named in early times after the pre-Flood one, though the earth was so radically changed in the cataclysm that it has no geographic correlation.

High Archaic –
The dialect of the higher tiers of the Seti clans, that is, the oldest generations. Because humans back then lived to such great ages, the most profound modifying factor of language was age, not distance, as it is today. Imagine if Shakespeare were alive today, or Chaucer—how much would they have resisted the innovations and corruptions of speech made by younger men like H.G. Wells or John Grisham. Imagine also, how much more forcefully the young would want to express their own ideas and the alienation that would have existed between the young and the old.

Ish’Hakka
and
Khuva –
Ish’Hakka
is the fictional root word for the real Hebrew word for woman,
isha
. At first, the proper name of the created woman, until her husband changed her name to
Khuva
, which is the fictional root word for
uva
,
ova
,
ava
,
ave
,
ovary
, which all linguistically relate to motherhood, and the name of the biblical Eve.

Iya’Baalu
and
Iyu’Buuli –
The biblical Jabal and Jubal, sons of the Lamech from Cain’s line in Genesis 4.

Iyapeti
– A’Nu-Ahki’s eldest son by Na’Amiha. The biblical Japheth.

Iyared
–
The biblical Jared of Genesis 5.

kapar –
A watertight cement made from distilled pine bitumens, pumice and other fine ground stones set with natron; also developed as an artificial rock and pavement by the prediluvian ancients. It is transliterated into the “gopher” of the gopher-wood ark mentioned in Genesis 6 and a less advanced form of it was used by the Sumerians, where it was signified by the cuneiform letters for
KPR
. The kapar process (in the story) was used in conjunction with conventional wood-hardening techniques by the technology of this novel and produced a leather-thin petrified shell on the wood as well as an additional shell from the kapar
cement. Hence, “gopher-wood” is not a type of tree, but a specially processed and hardened wood. This is also the Semitic root of the Hebrew
kippur
, as in
Yom Kippur
, the Day of Atonement. This word came to mean
covering
as in a covering over sin.

Kharir
–
The Mountains of…
as in the
Kharir Aedenu
or the
Kharir
Urkanu
—the Mountains of Aeden and the Mountains of Terror.

Khavilakki –
The pre-Flood biblical land of Havilah from Genesis 2. It was known for its gold, lapis lazuli, and onyx. Not to be confused with the post-Flood Havilah or
Haweilan
in what is now Saudi Arabia.

Kherub, Kherubim,
and
Kherubar –
A representation of biblical Cherubim, which were originally visualized by the ancient Assyrians as winged lions with man-like heads, and later by the Hebrews as messengers of Yahweh.

Ki –
The earth, as in the sum of all lands, in Sumerian.

Kush –
The land mentioned in Genesis 2 through, and around which, the river Gihon flowed. Not to be confused with the post-Flood Cush, who became the father of the Ethiopians and others.

L’Mekku –
The Lamech of Cain’s line in Genesis 4 – not to be confused with Lamech the father of Noah.

Leviathan –
The constellation
Cetus
, and one of the Basilisk’s chief vassals. Also any large flesh-eating marine reptile of the
Plesiosaur
or
Mosasaur
variety. Some had long necks; others (like the
Mosasaur
) were more fish-like or crocodilian.

Ley of the Brothers Lost –
The epic of Qayin’s murder of Heh’Bul (in the story), a version of which survives in a Mosaic redaction as the part of Genesis 4 that tells the story of Cain and Abel.

Lilitua, the Lost Daughter –
The planet we call Mercury, named for the wife of Qayin, who founded the great eastern and northern civilizations of the pre-Deluge world (in the story). She is remembered in Hebrew tradition, albeit with much distortion, as Lilith, the wife who rejected Adam and was doomed to wander, and in Sumero-Akkadian myth as the Lili demons that seek sexual contact with men. I have instead made her the eldest daughter of Adam and Eve, the wife of Cain, which makes more redemptive sense.

Lit
– Derogatory slang for those that believed in a literal World-end.

Lumekki –
The biblical Lamech of Seth’s line, and father of Noah.

lynd-wurm
– A small trainable wurm, probably in the
oviraptor
family. The word itself is borrowed from an Anglo-Saxon term related to dragons.

Mnemosynae
and
Lethae
– Priestess psycho-technicians of Aztlan, remembered as the titans Mnemosyne and Lethe of Greek Mythology, who had power over memory and forgetfulness.

Muhet’Usalaq –
The biblical Methuselah.

Na’Amiha –
A’Nu-Ahki’s second wife. The biblical Naamah, sister of Tubal-Cain from Genesis 4.

nae-fillim –
Common plural of
Nae-fil
, fictional root of the real Hebrew
nephil
and
nephilim
. It means
fallen one
, and is closely associated with the Greek
gigantes
, which means
earth-born
or
giant
.

New-world
– A term for the prophesied restoration of creation through the triumph of the promised “Seed of the Woman” after the world’s end.

Nhod –
The desolate region where Qayin was doomed to wander. A falling star blasted the area, and poisoned the soil there (see the apocryphal Book of Jasher). The pre-Flood biblical land of Nod (see Genesis 4).

Orchard of Aeden –
The biblical Garden of Eden.

orichalcum –
An expensive gold alloy that tinted towards the red, though not as red as copper. In Plato’s
Criteus
and
Timaeus
, the smiths of Atlantis forged
orichalcum
.

Pa
hn –
Lesser Watcher who haunts Tiva. His name means
all
. The Pan of Greek myth.

Pandura –
Techno-priestess of Aztlan; the Pandora of Greek mythology.

Pisunu –
The pre-Flood River Pishon of Genesis 2.

Prime Zaqen –
The chief patriarchal elder of a city-state in Seti.

Promised Seed
,
Monster-slayer,
or
Woman’s Seed, the –
The messianic deliverer promised at the dawn of time. Often viewed in A’Nu-Ahki’s culture (and later) as the greatest of monster slayers, who would suffer a poisoned wound but vanquish his serpentine or dragon foe in the end. The pure version of that promise is preserved in Genesis 3:15. Many ancient civilizations had corrupted versions of this promise, which was also reflected in their mythologies, and views of the constellations. The deeper spiritual dimension of this figure was often lost upon the people of A’Nu-Ahki’s generation. The ultimate fulfillment of this prophetic archetype comes in the death, resurrection, and Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Psydonu
– A fallen Watcher, and his chief titan son in Aztlan; remembered in Greek myth as Poseidon.

Pyra T’Qinna
– Novice priestess granddaughter of Pandura, remembered as Pyrhha, daughter of Pandora, in Greek mythology, who marries Deucalion and survives the Greek version of the global flood.

Q’Enukki –
The Great Seer, and ancestor of A’Nu-Ahki. A representation of the biblical Enoch of Seth’s line who was “translated” and taken alive to be with God. (See Genesis 5 and Hebrews 11.)
Q’Unukku
–
The biblical Enoch son of Cain, for whom an early city was named. Not to be confused with the Enoch of Seth’s line or the Great Seer.

Qayin
– The biblical Cain, who murdered Abel.

quickfire –
What we today would call electricity.

Ram, the –
What is today called the constellation of
Aries
.

scamper
–
(noun)
A small, harmless biped wurm known today as the chicken-sized dinosaur
compsognathus
.

Seraf
and
Serafim –
A lower order of heavenly being associated with the winged fire-serpent and the fallen Watcher Samyaza. Biblically, a
seraph
or
seraphim
, which is a form of angelic being with a fiery aspect.

Seti –
The biblical Seth, son of Adam. Not to be confused with Sesostris or Seti I of the Egyptian New Kingdom, both of whom came much later.

Shining One –
The biblical Lucifer, who became the Serpent or Satan; also called the Basilisk in this story.

skel –
A weight measure etymologically related to the later Hebrew
shekel
.

sons of God, the –
An Old Testament term for angels;
bene elohim
. In
The Windows of Heaven
it is another term for the fallen Watchers of the Second Insurrection led by Samyaza and Uzaaz’El—The Shamhazai and Azazel of ancient extra-biblical Hebrew legend. This term also shows up in a modified form as
sons of the gods
, though this version of the name speaks more of the hybrid offspring of the
bene elohim
of Genesis. Lumekki, who uses the “sons of the gods” version in speaking of the Watchers in Book 1, was probably doing so because he had picked up the habit from a non-Setiim source during the foreign wars he fought. Because
elohim
(God) is in the plural form it can be translated either way. Strictly speaking, however, the sons of God are not the same as the giants or
nephilim
they are said to have spawned. Also referred to as “sons of A’Nu”

Star Signs, the –
The constellations of the zodiac and in this novel series, their original divinely inspired interpretations. The interpretations were later so grossly corrupted and confused that the zodiac became a form of idolatry.

Stoning
– The outer petrifaction process of kapar wood hardening.

Straticon –
A military rank at which strategic level decisions are made. Loosely similar to a modern general or field marshal.

Sword of the Breaker –
The comet of A’Nu-Ahki, observed to approach from out of the Dragon Breaker constellation, which we call
Perseus
.

Tacticon –
An army officer in charge of tactical level decisions, loosely analogous to a colonel.

Tiamatu –
Root of the Sumero-Babylonian water monster
Tiamat
, out of whose divided carcass
Marduk
supposedly created the present world after slaying the beast. In this story,
Tiamatu
is also the former fifth planet, the remains of which make up many of the asteroid fields and the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. While this theory is not popular any longer among many astronomers, who hold to the various accretion theories of planetary development, accretion theories themselves have serious difficulties with the laws of physics, and have not yielded good scientific predictions about the nature of planetary bodies. The “5
th
Planet” is only one of many Catastrophist theories, and not a necessary agent for Dr. John Baumgardner’s Runaway Subduction model of the Flood, which looks to other causal possibilities.

titan –
A term for the supposed hybrid offspring of the Watchers and human women before the cataclysm. The term arises out of Greek mythology, where it was a class of god or giant that preceded the pantheon led by Zeus and Hera. Of course, even within Greek mythology there are many contradictory versions of who Zeus is and who the titans are. The Greeks also had a deluge in their legends in which Deucalion and his wife Pyrhha escaped in a large wooden box. The titans lived before that deluge. The word
satan
(which the Hebrews originally saw as a group of spiritual enemies rather than one single entity) is linguistically derived from a common root with
titan
:
titan
–
thaitan
–
shaitan
–
satan
.