In Other Words
The Latin phrases used in The Enlightened Series come directly from the Vulgate, a fourth-century translation of the Bible. It was revised in 1592 and is still in use today as the official Roman Catholic version of the Latin Bible. Unless otherwise specified, all the rest comes from a collection of eighteenth-century slang as defined by A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Second Edition. It was first published in London in 1788, is available online, and is really fun to flip through. It is interesting to see what phrases are still in use today and the many that are not. It is also a fantastic resource if you are in need of another good word for whore. Just beware - according to the Dictionary, there are multiple, different kinds of whores.
Ach teraz. Pozwól mi cię zobaczyć (Polish): Oh now. Let me see you.
Acuero ut fulgur gladium meum (Deuteronomy 32: 41): I shall whet my sword as the lightening.
Apage (Latin): be gone
Bad loaf: to be in a disagreeable situation, or in trouble
Bestia żywiołów (Polish): beast of the elements
Bide (Scottish slang): wait
Bloody back: A jeering appellation for a soldier, alluding to his scarlet coat
Blower: a mistress or whore of a gentleman of the camp.
Bonnie (Scottish slang): good or beautiful
Bowyer: a dealer in the marvellous, a teller of improbable dories, a liar
Braw (Scottish slang): good or brilliant
Brim: an abandoned woman
Bum boat: a boat attending ships to retail greens, drams, &c. commonly rowed by a woman; a kind of floating chandler’s shop
Byrlady (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): a mild oath (or, in this case, mild profanity)
Chevaux-de-frise (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): a defense consisting typically of a timber or an iron barrel covered with projecting spikes
Chodź (Polish): come
Chodź piesku. Pozwól mi cię zobaczyć. (Polish): Oh now. Let me see you.
Cisza (Polish): be quiet
Clout (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, British term): a piece of cloth or rags
Co robisz (Polish): What are you doing?
Countersign (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): a military secret signal that must be given by one wishing to pass a guard
Crack: a whore
Cup of the creature: a cap of good liquor
D’accord (French): all right
Dae (English with a Scottish accent): do
Daingead (Scottish slang): damn it
Do czorta! (Polish): damn it!
Dobry Boże! (Polish): good God!
Ego reddam ultionem hostibus meis (Deuteronomy 32: 41): I will render vengeance to mine enemies.
Frater meus (Latin): my brother
Friday Face: a dismal countenance
Fuj (Polish): yuck
Gang (English with a Scottish accent): go on
Gaol (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): British term for jail
Hame (English with a Scottish accent): home
Haver (Scottish slang): to talk nonesense
Hen (Scottish slang): hen = woman, typically as a term of endearment
He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf, a horse's health, a boy's love, or a whore's oath: by William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616), King Lear Act 3, Scene 6
Hocks: a vulgar appellation for the feet
Iskra Stworzenia (Polish): spark of creation
Jongen (Dutch): boy
Ken (Scottish slang): to know
Kto tam idzie (Polish): Who goes there?
Life is but a walking shadow: by William Skakespeare, Macbeth Act 5, Sc. 5
Lobsterbacks: a nickname for a soldier, from the colour of his clothes (specifically, a redcoat)
Loiter-sack (Wiktionary): obsolete phrase meaning “a lazy person”
Loyalist/Royalist/Tory: a “Tory” is an advocate for absolute monarchy and church power. According to THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A VISUAL HISTORY by the Smithsonian, the term refers to the British Parliamentarian party that represented the upper class. DK Publishing, 68 (2016). As with the other two phases, the term was used in revolutionary America to refer to anyone loyal to the British crown.
Mab (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): refers to queen of the faeries (or a witch)
Mae (Scottish slang): my
Mutti (German): mommy
Nation: damnation
Necessary: outhouse, privy, bathroom, as defined by George Washington’s Mount Vernon, https://www.mountvernon.org/the-estate-gardens/location/necessary (last visited Sept. 04, 2023)
Nie (Polish): no
No cóż. (Polish): Alas
Non me videbit oculus (Job 24: 15): No eye shall see me.
Nos ex Deo sumus non qui non est ex Deo non audit nos. (1 John 4: 6): We belong to God. Who does not belong to God does not hear us.
Nox ultra non erit, quia Dominus Deus illuminabit illos (Revelation 22: 5): Night shall be no more… for the Lord God shall enlighten them.
Oh captain, my captain: 1865 poem by Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – Mar. 26, 1892) about the death of President Abraham Lincoln
Oui (French): yes
“Pas de tout, Capitaine,” the colonel said. “Une femme extraordinaire, Mademoiselle Phillips. Vous êtes un homme audacieux qui prend une femme si étrange sous sa garde (French): Not at all. An extraordinary woman, Miss Phillips. You are a bold man who takes such a strange woman in his care.”
Peely-wally (Scottish slang): pale and ill-looking
Psia kość (Polish): literally means “dog bone,” meaning “damn it”
Pure done in (Scottish slang): exhausted
Qu'est-ce que c'est? (French): What is this?
Raison (French): reason
Regular (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): of, relating to, or constituting the permanent standing military force of a state (in the context of The Enlightened Series, the British soldiers)
Rozumiesz (Polish): Do you understand?
Salmagundy (Wikipedia): a cold dish or salad made from different ingredients which may include meat, seafood, eggs, cooked and raw vegetables, fruits, or pickles. In English culture, the term does not refer to a single recipe but describes the grand presentation of a large plated salad of many disparate ingredients.
Scabby feartie (Scottish slang): scabby = dirty, unclean; feartie = a person who is afraid of a lot of things
Shift (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): a woman’s slip or chemise
Shut your bone box: shut your mouth
Strażnik Ludzi (Polish): Guardian of the People
Tae (English with a Scottish accent): to
Tanagra cyanea: 18th century scientific name for an indigo bunting (a bird) from Systema Naturae (1736), written by the creator of modern system of classification of animals and plants, Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778). Today, the scientific name is Passerina cyanea.
Terra firma (Latin): solid earth
Two little Soldier Boys sitting in the sun; One got fizzled up, and then there was…: “Ten Little Soldier,” a poem within the Agatha Christie (Sept. 15, 1890 – Jan. 12, 1976) novel, And Then There Were None
“Ultra non nox erit.” (Revelations 22:5): Night shall be no more.
Under the cat’s foot: to be under the dominion of a wife, hen-pecked
Uzurpować (Polish): usurp
Victuals (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): food usable by people
Votum Fecerit (Latin): special vow
Wha (English with a Scottish accent): who
Whirlygigs: testicles
Yankee (Merriam-Webster Dictionary): a native or inhabitant of New England
The following is taken directly from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: We don’t know the origin of Yankee but we do know that it began as an insult. British General James Wolfe used the term in a 1758 letter to express his low opinion of the New England troops assigned to him, and from around the same time period there is a report of British troops using Yankee as a term of abuse for the citizens of Boston. In 1775, however, after the battles of Lexington and Concord showed that colonials could stand up to British regulars, Yankee was proudly adopted by colonials as a self-descriptor in defiance of the pejorative use. Both derisive and respectable uses have existed ever since. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Yankee (last visited Sept. 04, 2023)
Ye (English with a Scottish accent): you
Yer (English with a Scottish accent): your
Z drogi! (Polish): get moving