Mog-Gim Plateau - an arid area on the planet Makahomia near the Federation spaceport.
MOO, or Moon of Opportunity-Hafiz's artificial planet, and home base for the Vhiliinyar terraforming operation.
Mulzar - the Mog-Gimin title taken by the high priest who is also the warlord of the Plateau.
Mulzar Edu Kando sach Pilau dom Mog-Gim-High Priest of Hissim and the Aridimi Plateau, on the planet Makahomia.
Naadiina - also known as Grandam, one of the oldest Linyaari, host to both Maati and Acorna on narhii-Vhiliinyar; died to give her people the opportunity to save both of their planets.
Naarye-Linyaari techno-artisan in charge of final fit-out of spaceships.
Nadhari Kando-formerly Delszaki Li's personal bodyguard, rumored to have been an officer in the Red Bracelets earlier in her career, then a security officer in charge of MOO, then the guard for the leader on her home planet of Makahomia. narhii-Vhiliinyar-the planet settled by the Linyaari after Vhiliinyar, their original homeworld, was destroyed by the Khleevi.
Neeva-Acorna's aunt and Linyaari envoy on the Balakiire, bonded to Virii.
Neo-Hadithian-an ultraconservative, fanatical religious sect.
Ngaen Xong Hoa-a Kieaanese scientist who invented a planetary weather control system. He sought asylum on the Haven because he feared the warring governments on his planet would misuse his research. A mutineer faction on the Haven used the system to reduce the planet Rushima to ruins. The mutineers were tossed into space, and Dr. Hoa has since restored Rushima and now works for Hafiz.
Niciirye - Grandam Naadiina's husband, dead and buried on Vhiliinyar.
Niikaavri - Acorna's grandmother, a member of the clan Geeyiinah, and a spaceship designer by trade. Also, as Niikaavre, the name of the spaceship used by Maati and Thariinye.
Nirii-a planetary trading partner of the Linyaari, populated by bovine-like two-horned sentients, known as Niriians, technologically advanced, able to communicate telepathically, and phlegmatic in temperament. nyiiri-the Linyaari word for unmitigated gall, sheer effrontery, or other form of misplaced bravado.
Our Star - Linyaari name for the star that centers their solar system.
Paazo River -a major geographical feature on the Linyaari homeworld, Vhiliinyar. pahaantiyir-a large cat-like animal once found on Vhiliinyar.
Pandora - Count Edacki Ganoosh's personal spaceship, used to track and pursue Hafiz's ship Shahrazad as it speeds after Acorna on her journey to narhii-Vhiliinyar. Later confiscated and used by Hafiz for his own purposes.
piiro - Linyaari word for a rowboat-like water vessel.
piiyi-a Niriian biotechnology-based information storage and retrieval system. The biological component resembles a very rancid cheese.
Praxos - a swampy planet near Makahomia used by the Federation to train Makahomian recruits.
Rafik Nadezda-one of three miners who discovered Acorna and raised her.
RedBracelets - Kilumbembesemercenaries;arguably the toughest and nastiest fighting force in known space.
Roadkill-otherwise known as RK. A Makahomian Temple cat, the only survivor of a space wreck, rescued and adopted by Jonas Becker, and honorary first mate of the Condor.
Scaradine MacDonald-captain of the Arkansas Traveler spaceship, and galactic freight hauler.
Shahrazad-Hafiz's personal spaceship, a luxury cruiser.
sii-Linyaari - a legendary race of aquatic Linyaari-like beings developed by the Ancestral Friends.
Siiaaryi Maartri - a Linyaari Survey ship.
Sita Ram - a protective goddess, identified with Acorna by the mining children on Kezdet.
Standard Galactic Basic - the language used throughout the human settled galaxy, also known simply as Basic.
stiil - Linyaari word for a pencil-like writing implement.
Taankaril - visedhaanye ferilii of the Gamma sector of Linyaari space.
Tagoth - see Bulaybub.
techno-artisan - Linyaari specialist who designs, engineers, or manufactures goods.
Thariinye - a handsome and conceited young spacefaring Linyaari from clan Renyilaaghe.
Theophilus Becker - Jonas Becker's father, a salvage man and astrophysicist with a fondness for exploring uncharted wormholes. thiilir (pl. thilirii) - small arboreal mammals of Linyaari home world.
thiilsis - grass species native to Vhiliinyar.
Toroona - a Niriian female, who sought help from Acorna and theLinyaari when her home planet was invaded by the Khleevi.
Twi Osiam - planetary site of a major financial and trade center. twilit - small, pestiferous insect on Linyaari home planet.
Uhuru - one of the various names of the ship owned jointly by Gill, Calum, and Rafik.
Vaanye - Acorna's father.
Vhiliinyar - original home planet of the Linyaari, destroyed by Khleevi.
viizaar-a high political office in the Linyaari system, roughly equivalent to president or prime minister.
Virii-Neeva's spouse.
visedhaanye ferilii-Linyaari term corresponding roughly to "Envoy Extraordinary."
Vriiniia Watiir-sacred healing lake on Vhiliinyar, defiled by the Khleevi.
Wahanamoian Blossom of Sleep-poppy-like flowers whose pollen, when ground, is a very powerful sedative.
wii-a Linyaari prefix meaning small.
yaazi-Linyaari term for beloved.
Yaniriin-a Linyaari Survey Ship captain.
Yiitir-history teacher at theLinyaari academy,and Chief Keeper of the Linyaari Stories. Lifemate to Maarni.
Yukata Batsu-Uncle Hafiz's chief competitor on Laboue.
Zaami-a high mountain peak on the Linyaari homeworld. Zanegar - second-generation Starfarer.
Brief Notes on the Linyaari Language
By Margaret Ball
As Anne McCaffrey's collaborator in transcribing the first two tales of Acorna, I was delighted to find that the second of these books provided an opportunity to sharpen my long-unused skills in linguistic fieldwork. Many years ago, when the government gave out scholarships with gay abandon and the cost of living (and attending graduate school) was virtually nil, I got a Ph.D. in linguistics for no better reason than that (a) the government was willing to pay for it, (b) it gave me an excuse to spend a couple of years doing fieldwork in Africa, and (c) there weren't any real jobs going for eighteen-year-old girls with a B.A. in math and a minor in Germanic languages. (This was back during the Upper Pleistocene era, when the Help Wanted ads were still divided into Male and Female.)
So there were all those years spent doing things like transcribing tonal Oriental languages on staff paper (the Field Methods instructor was Not Amused) and tape-recording Swahili women at weddings, and then I got the degree and wandered off to play with computers and never had any use for the stuff again… until Acorna's people appeared on the scene. It required a sharp ear and some facility for linguistic analysis to make sense of the subtle sound changes with which their language signaled syntactic changes; I quite enjoyed the challenge.
The notes appended here represent my first and necessarily tentative analysis of certain patterns in Linyaari phonemics and morphophonemics. If there is any inconsistency between this analysis and the Linyaari speech patterns recorded in the later adventures of Acorna, please remember that I was working from a very limited database and, what is perhaps worse, attempting to analyze a decidedly nonhuman language with the aid of the only paradigms I had, twentieth-century linguistic models developed exclusively from human language. The result is very likely as inaccurate as were the first attempts to describe English syntax by forcing it into the mold of Latin, if not worse. My colleague, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, has by now added her own notes to the small corpus of Linyaari names and utterances, and it may well be that in the next decade there will be enough data available to publish a truly definitive dictionary and grammar of Linyaari, an undertaking which will surely be of inestimable value not only to those members of our race who are involved in diplomatic and trade relations with this people, but also to everyone interested in the study of language.