His Dark Materials

His Dark Materials is a trilogy of novels by the fantasy fiction author Philip Pullman, comprising Northern Lights (released as The Golden Compass in the United States), The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The trilogy has also been published as a single-volume omnibus in the UK, titled simply "His Dark Materials".

Terminology

Esoteric renaming

To enhance the feeling of being in a parallel universe, Pullman renames various common objects of our world with historic terms or new words of his own, often reflecting the power of the Church in Lyra's world. The alternative names he chooses often follow alternate etymologies, while making it possible to guess what everyday object or person he is referring to. Below are some of the significant renamings.

Related Topics:
Church - Etymologies

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• Anbaric: Electric. From amber, which the ancient Greeks in our world thought was the source of electricity.
• Atomcraft: Research into particle physics, specifically using uranium.
• Brytain: A phonetically identical respelling of the country Britain.
• Celestial Geography: Celestial navigation.
• Chapel: A scientific laboratory.
• Chaplain: The head of a scientific laboratory.
• Chocolatl: Sometimes hot chocolate, sometimes "a bar of chocolatl" (a chocolate bar). From the nahuatl (Aztec) word for chocolate.
• Chthonic Railway Station: A Tube-station (or, to Americans, a subway station).
• Coal-silk: Carbon-fibre (coal as in carbon, silk as in soft, like carbon-fibre coats). An artificial fibre similar to rayon, which was once known as art-silk in our world.
• Corea: A phonetically identical respelling of the country Korea.
• Electrum: Amber.
• (Experimental) Theologian: A physicist.
• Gyptians: Boat-dwelling "Gypsies".
• Lascar: An East Indian.
• Muscovite: A Russian, possibly specifically from Moscow ("Muscovy" may specifically refer to Moscow, as opposed to all of Russia).
• Naphtha: Oil (as in oil-lamp, rather than naphtha-lamp).
• Oratory: An individual church.
• Philosophical: Having to do with the study of physics. In our own world, physics was once a part of philosophy.
• Poppy: Opium, which is made from poppies.
• Roman: Specifically, the Latin language.
• Skraeling: A Native American/First Nations person, particularially one from Greenland. Natives of Greenland were once named similarly by the Vikings of our world (see Skræling).
• Tartar: A Mongol.

Pronunciation

The pronunciations given in italics below are, for the most part, drawn from BridgetotheStars.net. The pronunciations in both the radio plays and the audio book readings of the trilogy (by Pullman himself) are those given, some of which are technically incorrect under standard pronunciation rules. The transcriptions surrounded by square brackets are in the International Phonetic Alphabet, as spoken in Received Pronunciation.

Related Topics:
International Phonetic Alphabet - Received Pronunciation

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• Alethiometer: al-eth-ee-OM-et-er {{IPA|}}
• Æsahættr: ASS-hat-ter {{IPA|}}
• Aurora Borealis: uh-ROR-uh bor-ee-AH-lis {{IPA|}}
• Chthonic (see above): kuh-THON-ic {{IPA|}}
• Cittàgazze: chee-tuh-GAHT-s(z)ay (as Italian) {{IPA|}}
• Dæmon: DEE-mon {{IPA|}}
• Iorek: YOR-ick {{IPA|}}
• Iofur: YO-fur {{IPA|}}
• Kirjava: keer-YAH-vuh {{IPA|}}
• Lyra: LIE-ruh {{IPA|}}
• Mulefa: m(y)ool-EFF-uh {{IPA|}}
• Panserbjørne: PAN-ser-byorn-eh {{IPA|}}
• Pantalaimon: pan-tuh-LIE-mon {{IPA|}}
• Quantum: KWON-tuhm {{IPA|}}
• Salmakia: sal-MACK-ee-uh {{IPA|}}
• Serafina Pekkala: SEH-ra-fee-nuh PEK-kah-luh {{IPA|}}
• Tialys: tee-AH-lis {{IPA|}}
• Torre degli Angeli: TOR-ay DAI-(y)-lee A(H)N-juhl-ee (as Italian) {{IPA|}}
• Xaphania: zaf-AY-nee-uh {{IPA|}}