Some words and names I use in my books may seem unfamiliar to you and though I love learning new words whether fictional or real, as a reader I get so frustrated when I cannot figure out how to pronounce something so I’ve added a few here to help you out and let me know if there are any others you’d like explained/added to the list!
Fifth Sun
Book Titles
Listed below are the combination English-Spanish titles in the Fifth Sun series.
Revenge de los Muertos – Revenge of the Dead
Hunt de las Brujas – Hunt of the Witches
Battle del Espíritu – Battle of the Spirit
War de los Corazones – War of the Hearts
Surrender de la Llama – Surrender of the Flame
Supernaturals
Listed below are the various terms related to the supernatural beings within the world of Fifth Sun.
Angels – Powerful beings created to serve Ometeotl (the Creator) and protect humanity. They possess their own form of magic and are more powerful than nahualtin or any human. Two categories of angels formed after a split led to war and a permanent separation: Light and Dark (also sometimes called Fallen). Light Angels teach peace, obedience, and the Fruits of the Spirit (Mat. 5:1-12). Dark Angels teach chaos, absolute freedom, and are ruled by emotion.
Azconetl – [Winged Child] A half-angel half-demon born every 52 years with the power to either open the gates to Heaven and Hell or keep them sealed and its denizens out of the earthen realm.
Bruja/Brujo – [female/male witch] Human with magic. Includes all subcategories e.g. Siren, Reaper, Tlacocoyotl.
Demons – May refer to either dark angels or lower-tiered servants to dark-angels.
Familiar – An animal attracted to magic and guides, guards, or assists a nahualli (or other supernatural); may also possess magic of its own.
Nahualli; Nahualtin – [witch; witches] See Bruja/Brujo.
La Muerte – [Grim Reaper] See Reaper.
Reaper – Bruja/o that feeds on the life force of living beings or things to fuel their magic.
Sangre Soberano – [Sovereign Blood] Ruler of all brujas and brujos. Also referred to as Blood King or Blood Queen.
Sirena – [siren] Bruja/o that channels their magic through song and/or rhythm.
Tepiani – [guardian] See Tlacocoyotl.
Tlacocoyotl; Tlacocoyomeh – [half-coyote; half-coyotes] Bruja/o that feeds on blood to fuel their magic and can shape-shift into an animal form (specifically a creature similar in features to a coyote, though of much larger stature, with elongated fangs and claws, red eyes, and curved bone-like spikes that protrude from their spine down their back); Also referred to as Chupacabra [goat-sucker] and Tepiani.
Covens
Listed below are the covens mentioned in the series.
Equoni – [Cherokee: river] Coven based in Wilmington, North Carolina; Territory covers both North and South Carolina.
Malinche – [twisted grass] Coven based in Tlaxcala, Mexico; Territory covers entirety of the State of Tlaxcala. Name comes from the volcano La Malinche which in turn was named after a Nahual woman and traitor.
Tula – [leaping waters; urban center] Coven based near Tula de Allende, Mexico, the former center of the ancient Toltec Empire; Territory covers entirety of the State of Hidalgo.
Spells n’ Such
Listed below are words used in the series as spells or are simply magic or coven-related.
Canto de Sirena – Siren Song; bar/dance club where Rosalinda works
Chimaltia – To make a shield or shelter
Cochi – To sleep
Energía – Energy
Hechizo – Spell
Magia – Magic
Pan del Sol – Bread of the Sun; bakery owned by Francisca & the Malinche coven
Tentzacua – To silence or stifle
Miscellaneous
Listed below are a few of the various words and phrases used in the series along with some other Spanish basics. (Note: I can’t simply list the entire Spanish-English dictionary here haha so for some things you’ll simply have to type it into a translator to figure out.)
Adios – Goodbye
Amigo/Amiga – Male/Female Friend
Buenos días – Good morning
Buenos tardes – Good afternoon
Buenas noches – Good night
Chicle – Gum
¿Cuánto cuesta? – How much?
El Día de los Muertos – Day of the Dead (a Mexican holiday)
El Dios – God
Espejismo – Illusion
Fresa – Strawberry (literal); Snooty (slang)
Gato – Cat
(Muchas) Gracias – Thank you (very much)
Hermana (hermanita1) – (Little) Sister
Hermano (hermanito) – (Little) Brother
Hola – Hello
Mañana – Morning; Tomorrow
Mendiguitos – Little beggars
Muchachos/as – Guys/Gals
Naco – Low-class (slang); Popcorn (literal)
Niño/Niña/Niños – Boy/Girl/Children
No – No
Novio/a – Boyfriend/Girlfriend
Pan dulce – Sweet bread
Por favor – Please
La puesta del sol – Sunset
Qué rico/a – Delicious
Señor – Mr./Mister; Sir; Master; Lord
Señora – Ms./Mrs.; Lady; Madam; Ma’am
Señorita – Miss
Sí – Yes
1 -ita/-ito changes the word into an endearing or younger form.
Nahuatl Pronunciation Guide
Listed below are the pronunciations for some of the Nahuatl words used within the series.
Chalchiuthlicue [chal-chew-TLEE-kweh]
Citlaltepetl2 [seet-lal-teh-peh-ł]
Cuicatl [koo-EE-sah- ł]
Huitzilopochtli [oo-eet-see-loh-POH-chtlee]
Iztaccihuatl [ees-tak-SEE-wah- ł]
Malinche [mah-LEEN-cheh]
Nahualli [nah-WAL-lee]
Nahualtin [nah-WAL-teen]
Nahuatl [NAH-wah-ł]
Nanahuatzin [nah-nah—WAH-tseen]
Ometeotl [oh-meh-TEH-oh- ł]
Popocatepetl [poh-poh-kah-TEH-peh- ł]
Quetzalcoatl [ket-sal-KOH-ah- ł]
Tecuciztecatl [teh-koo-sees-TEH-kah- ł]
Tepiani [teh-pee-AH-nee]
Tezcatlipoca [tes-kat-lee-POH-kah]
Tlacocoyomeh [tlah-coh-coh—YOH-meh]
Tlacocoyotl [tlah-coh-COH-yoh- ł]
Tlaloc [TLAH-lok]
2In Nahuatl, the ‘tl’ word ending is a lateral fricative (phonetically symbolized as ł) similar to ‘ll’ in Welsh and doesn’t exist in English. Place your tongue against the back of your teeth and breathe the air out along either side of the tongue. If you’re really stressed about it though, you can often mute this ending and people will still understand the word. I’ve also heard people in Mexico pronounce the ‘tl’ ending as a soft ‘l’ so you can probably also get away with that while you practice too.
* * *
Reminder that in Spanish, the letter ‘j’ sounds like an English ‘h’, the letter ‘h’ is silent, ‘z’ sounds more like ’s’, and ‘ll’ sounds like an English ‘y’ (though the Mexican dialect pronounces it like a soft ‘j’). Spanish also uses only 5 basic vowel sounds:
A = ah
E = eh
I = ee
O = oh
U = oo
Otherworld
You can also read my blog posts here & here for more info.
Characters
Cassandra “Feuer” Bocklin: kah-SAN-drah “FOH-ye(r)” Bur-KLEEN
Geoffrey “Eisen” Martinez/Verdandi: JOF-ree “EYE-sen” Vehr-DAHN-dee
Adrianna “Leitfaden” Dietrich/Verdandi: Ah-dree-AH-nah “LEET-fah-den” Vehr-DAHN-dee
Sarai Morrigan: Sah-RYE MOH-ree-gahn
Abel: AY-behl
Xià: SH(y)AH
Seamus: SHAY-muhs
Places
Adhan: Ah-HAN
Ailill: ael-EEL
Aztlan: Az-TLAN
Circ de Apa: SERK deh AH-pah
Jardín: Har-DEEN
Llyr: LEER
Mordréda: Mor-DREH-dah
Oneiroi: AW-nee-ree
Quidel: Kee-DEL
Silvanus: Sil-VAH-noos
Slang
Ahktun: Ak-TOON; “Attention”
Alvidar: Al-vee-DAR; “Goodbye”
Belisama: Bel-EE-sah-mah; “Beautiful”
Bihana: Bee-HAH-nah; “Morning”
Bon: “Good”
Chavi: CHAH-vee; “Child”
Cosechapan: Koh-SEH-chah-pahn; A type of Aztlanean sweet bread made during the Rujan Festival
Figo/Figotu: FEE-goh/FEE-goh-too; Oneiroian swearword used as a vague exclamation of frustration
Indit: EEN-dit; “Go”
Intermezzi: een-tehr-MEH-tzee; “Intermission:
Irrumabotu: eer-room-ah-BOH-too; A highly offensive insult
Ja: “Yes”
Jourdie: JOR-dee; Citizens of Oneiroi
Noche: NOH-cheh; “Night”
Nothus: “Bastard”
Nyet: “No”
Porfabór: Por-fah-BOHR; “Please”
Queentia: KWEEN-shee-ah; An Oneiroian card game involving a pair of dice and a set of beaded wooden counters used to keep score as well as manipulate each hand’s outcome
Rom Baro: “Boss/Leader”
Slahncha: SLAHN-chah; “Cheers”
Spaseeba: Spah-SEE-bah; “Thank you”
Suverenye/a: Soo-veh-REN-yeh/-yah; “Sovereign/Highness”
Tseloti ina tinikaree: (T)seh-LOH-tee een-ah tee-nee-KAH-ree; “Prayer and strength”
Weepy: Guests of Oneiroi
Whisper: Guardians of Oneiroi
