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.
Click on the term to see the definition
-
(Polish) Oh now. Let me see you.
-
(Deuteronomy 32: 41) I shall whet my sword as the lightening.
-
(Latin) Be gone
-
To be in a disagreeable situation, or in trouble
-
(Polish) Beast of the elements
-
(Scottish slang) Wait
-
A jeering appellation for a soldier, alluding to his scarlet coat
-
A mistress or whore of a gentleman of the camp
-
(Scottish slang) Good or beautiful
-
A dealer in the marvelous, a teller of improbable dories, a liar
-
(Scottish slang) Good or brilliant
-
An abandoned woman
-
A boat attending ships to retail greens, drams, &c. commonly rowed by a woman; a kind of floating chandler’s shop
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) A mild oath (or, in this case, mild profanity)
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) A defense consisting typically of a timber or an iron barrel covered with projecting spikes
-
(Polish) Come
-
(Polish) Come now. Let me see you.
-
(Polish) Be quiet
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary, British term) a piece of cloth or rags
-
(Polish) What are you doing?
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) A military secret signal that must be given by one wishing to pass a guard
-
A whore
-
A cap of good liquor
-
(French) All right
-
(English with a Scottish accent) Do
-
(Scottish slang) Damn it
-
(Polish) Damn it!
-
(Polish) Good god!
-
(Deuteronomy 32: 41) I will render vengeance to mine enemies.
-
(Latin) My brother
-
A dismal countenance
-
(Polish) Yuck
-
(English with a Scottish accent) Go on
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) British term for jail
-
(English with a Scottish accent) Home
-
(Scottish slang) To talk nonsense
-
(Scottish slang) Woman, typically as a term of endearment
-
King Lear Act 3, Scene 6, by William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616)
-
A vulgar appellation for the feet
-
(Polish) Spark of creation
-
(Dutch) Boy
-
(Scottish slang) To know
-
(Polish) Who goes there?
-
Macbeth Act 5, Sc. 5, by William Shakespeare
-
A nickname for a soldier, from the colour of his clothes (specifically, a redcoat)
-
(Wiktionary) Obsolete phrase meaning “a lazy person”
-
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.
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Refers to queen of the faeries (or a witch)
-
(Scottish slang) My
-
(German) Mommy
-
Damnation
-
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)
-
(Polish) No
-
(Polish) Alas
-
(Job 24: 15) No eye shall see me.
-
(1 John 4: 6) We belong to God. Who does not belong to God does not hear us.
-
(Revelation 22: 5) Night shall be no more… for the Lord God shall enlighten them.
-
1865 poem by Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – Mar. 26, 1892) about the death of President Abraham Lincoln
-
(French) Yes
-
(French) Not at all. An extraordinary woman, Miss Phillips. You are a bold man who takes such a strange woman in his care.”
-
(Scottish slang) Pale and ill-looking
-
(Polish) Literally means “dog bone,” meaning “damn it”
-
(Scottish slang) Exhausted
-
(French): What is this?
-
(French) Reason
-
(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)
-
(Polish): Do you understand?
-
(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.
-
(Scottish slang)
Scabby = dirty, unclean
Feartie = a person who is afraid of a lot of things
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) A woman’s slip or chemise
-
Shut your mouth
-
(Polish) Guardian of the People
-
(English with a Scottish accent) To
-
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.
-
(Latin) Solid earth
-
“Ten Little Soldier,” a poem within the Agatha Christie (Sept. 15, 1890 – Jan. 12, 1976) novel, And Then There Were None
-
(Revelations 22:5) Night shall be no more.
-
To be under the dominion of a wife, hen-pecked
-
(Polish) Usurp
-
(Merriam-Webster Dictionary) Food usable by people
-
(Latin) Special vow
-
(English with a Scottish accent) Who
-
Testicles
-
(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)
-
(English with a Scottish accent) You
-
(English with a Scottish accent) Your
-
(Polish) Get moving