1 FREMEN CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
1.1 Culture
Fremens are the 'Native' inhabitants of Arrakis. They perfectly adapted desertlife. Frank
Herbert Created this race as J.R.R. Tolkien created elves. J.R.R. Tolkien influenced
Scandinavian when created elves and similarly Frank Herbert influenced from Arabians and
Turks. In their daily lives languages and their relations we can see the influence of Middle
East people.
Fremens lives in Sietchs which are caverns in the rocky areas of desert with their tribes.
The sietchs are ruled by Naib’s who has sworn never to be taken alive by the enemy;
traditional oath of a Fremen leader. They are basicly the tribe leader. The fremen tribes are
about to 20 000 fremens but this number is limited by the capacity of sietch rather then the
Naib. These tribes are in peace an done Naib do not interfere the other Naib’s problems. Each
sietch helps other sietchs and they fight against common enemies (e.g. Harkonnens) (till Alia
and degeneration of fremens). And in sietch Naib’s words are the laws. To chose the Naib
they organize a council gathering, it is a formal convocation of Fremen leaders to witness a
combat that determines tribal leadership. (Council Gathering is an assembly to arrive at
decisions involving all the tribes.) Yali is a fremen's personal quarters within the sietch.
Fremen earn their lives from desert they gather melange and sell them. They give bribes
to hide their holdouts, the sietchs. Melange is a part of their life. Everyway you look you see
melange. They use melange everything they produce.
Since Fremens are the native people of Arrakis they are also native people of desert and
they have special constructs, called wind trap, to trap water. This is a water source for them.
They also get water from their victim they see human body as water source and they don’t
burry or cremate the corpses. They distillate body to get water by a device called deathstill.
Since there are thousands of fremens living in the desert these supplies are not sufficient
fremens to get water. So they created stillsuits a body-enclosing garment of Fremen design
which performs the functions of heat dissipation and filtering bodily wastes, as well as
retaining and reclaiming moisture and use Doorseal, a portable plastic hermetic seal used for
moisture security in Fremen overday cave camps it works by the pump at heel with the weight
of body. Moisture is being caught filtered by flit-plug at nose from exhaled breath and stored
in pockets called catchpocket.Rechats link the human waste disposal system to the cycling
filters of a stillsuit.Watertube within a stillsuit or stilltent carries reclaimed water into a
catchpocket or from the catchpocket to the wearer. The scarf-pad worn at the forehead
beneath the stillsuit hood by married or 'associated' Fremen women after birth of a son is
called nezhoni scraff. And each fremen has his own repkit to repair and replacement essentials
for a stillsuit because going desert without stillsuit means death and fremen kill everybody at
desert without stillsuit. However, with stillsuits a fremen looses only few grams of water in
opendesert in a day. Although stillsuits are produced everywhere on arrakis fremens are best
at producing stillsuits.
Fremen use the language chakobsa while they are hunting. Dew gatherers reap dew
from the plants of Arrakis using a scythelike dew reaper. They use egg-shaped devices about
four centimetres on the long axis. They are made of chromoplastic that turns a reflecting
white when subjected to light and reverts to transparency in darkness which are called dew
collectors or dew precipitators. The collector forms a markedly cold surface upon which dawn
dew will precipitate. They are used by Fremen to line concave planting depressions where
they provide a small but reliable source of water. They carry fremkit their survival kit on
desert with them. As well as frem kit they have drum sand, Impacts sand in such a way that
any sudden blow against its surface produces a distinct drum sound to summon Shaid-Hulud.
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Hookman, fremen with Maker hooks prepared to catch a sandworm and uses great sandworms
for transportation. Fremens generally wear bourka an insulated mantle in the open desert.
While on desert hiereg, temporary Fremen desert camp on open sand are used for housing.
There is no age restriction for fremens to become adult but they have to take a test
called minha. In this test fremen young tries to mount a sandworm. Generally fremen youngs
take this test about age twelve. If he is to pass he is called a Sandrider means who is capable
of capturing and riding a sandworm. Fremen youngs are called wali.
Sand worms are attracted by rithmic sound done on sand surface so it is impossible for
one to survive on open desert even with still suit. But fremens have their own techniques to
walk on sands sandwalker is any fremen trained to survive in the open desert.
1.2 Language
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Aba~Loose, usually black robe worn by Fremen women.
Ab-i hayat ~ Water of Life. Toxic liquid exhalation of a drowning sandworm, used by
Fremen Reverend Mothers in the spice agony.
Achlan ~ Welcome
Agh ~ Left turn: a worm-steersman's call.
Al-Lat ~ Mankind's original sun; by usage: any planet's primary.
Alam Al-Mithal ~The mystical world of similitudes where all physical limitations are
removed.
Auliya ~In the Zensunni Wanderer's religion the female at the left hand of God: God's
handmaiden.
Aw ~ or
Ayat ~The signs of life. (See Burhan)
Bahr bela ma ~ Waterless ocean.
Baka ~ In Fremen legend, the weeper who mourns for all mankind.
Baklawa ~A heavy pastry made with date syrup.
Bashar ~ Military rank, slightly above a traditional Colonel; often called a Colonel
Bashar. The rank is created for military ruler of a planetary subdistrict; the variation
Supreme Bashar is generally held by a military's most senior commander.
Batigh ~ Water mellon grew on desert.
Bedwine ~see Ichwan Bedwine.
Bela Tegeuse ~The fifth planet of Kuentsing: third stopping place of the Zensunni
(Fremen) forced migration.
Bhotani Jib ~see Chakobsa.
Bi-La Kaifa ~Amen.
Bled ~Flat, open desert
Bourka ~An insulated mantle worn by Fremen in the open desert.
Bu ji ~ Nothing out of nothing.
Burhan ~The proofs of life. (Commonly: the ayat and burhan of life. See Ayat.)
Chakobsa ~ Language of the Fremen of Arrakis.
Chuascu ~four
Crysknife ~ Weapon made from the tooth of a sandworm from Arrakis. Crysknifes
are wielded by fremens.
Dar Al-Hikman ~ School of religious translation or interpretation.
Derch ~ Right turn: a worm steersman's call.
El Kuds ~ Holy place (gave of Duke Leto Atreides I)
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El-Sayal ~ The 'rain of sand'. A fall of dust which has been carried to medium altitude
(around 2,000 metres) by a Coriolis storm. El-sayals frequently bring moisture to
ground level.
Fai ~ The water tribute; chief specie of tax on Arrakis.
Fedaykin ~ Fremen "death commandos", personally trained by Paul Atreides;
historically: a group formed and pledged to give their lives to right a wrong.
Filhakika ~ reality
Geyrat ~ Straight ahead; a worm steersman's call.
Ghanima ~ Something acquired in battle or single combat. Commonly, a memento of
combat kept only to stir the memory.
Haiiiii-Yoh! ~ Command to action; worm steersman's call.
Hajj ~ A holy journey.
Hajra ~ A journey of seeking.
Hal Yawm ~ 'Now! At last!' - a Fremen exclamation.
Harj ~ Desert journey, migration.
Hark al ada ~ Breaking the tradition
Harmonthep ~ Ingsley gives this as the planet name for the sixth stop in the Zensuuni
migration. It is supposed to have been a no longer existent satellite of Delta Pavonis.
Ibad, Eyes Of ~ characteristic effect of a diet high in melange wherein the whites and
pupils of the eyes turn a deep blue (indicative of deep melange addiction)
Ibn Qirtaiba ~ 'Thus go the holy words...' Formal beginning to Fremen religious
incantation (derived from panoplia propheticus).
Ichwan Bedwine ~ The brotherhood of all Fremen on Arrakis.
Ikhut-Eigh! ~ The cry of the water-seller on Arrakis (etymology uncertain). See SooSoo Sook!
Ilm ~ Theology; science of religious tradition, one of the halflegendary origins of the
Zensunni Wanderers' faith.
Ishcai ~ two
Kaveh ~ Coffe
Kiswa ~ Any figure or design from Fremen mythology.
Kitab Al-Ibar ~ The combined survival handbook-religious manual developed by the
Fremen on Arrakis.
Kulish ~ The very best.
La La La ~ Fremen cry of grief.
Liban ~ Fremen liban is spice water infused with yucca flour. Originally a sour milk
drink.
Lisan Al-Gaib ~ 'The Voice from the Outer World.' In Fremen messianic legends an
off-world prophet. Sometimes translated as 'Giver of Water.' (See Mahdi.)
Lylyo ~trusted
Mahdi ~ In the Fremen messianic legend, 'The One Who Will Lead Us to Paradise.'
Maslumen ~ opressed
Misr ~ The historical Zensunni (Fremen) term for themselves: 'The People.'
Mu ~ Nothing
Muad'dib The adapted kangaroo mouse of Arrakis, a creature associated in the
Fremen earth-spirit mythology with a design visible on the planet's second moon. This
creature is admired by Fremen for its ability to survive in the open desert.
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Mudir Nahya ~ The Fremen name for Beast Rabban (Count of Lankiveil), the
Harkonnen cousin who was siridar governor or Arrakis for many years. The name is
often translated as 'Demon Ruler.'
Naip ~ Fremen Sietch Ruler.
Onsar Akhaka ~help your brother
Picha ~five
Portyguls ~ oranges.
Qanat ~ Open canal for carrying irrigation water under controlled conditions through
a desert.
Qimsa ~three
Qirtaiba ~ see Ibn Qirtaiba
Quizara ~ Fremen priests (after Muad'Dib).
Ramadhan ~ Ancient religious period marked by fasting and prayer; traditionally, the
ninth month of the solar-lunar calendar. Fremen mark the observance according to the
ninth meridian-crossing cycle of the first moon.
Ruh-Spirit ~In Fremen belief, that part of the individual which is always rooted in
(and capable of sensing) the metaphysical world. (See Alam al-Mithal.)
Sarfa ~ The act of turning away from God.
Sayyadina ~ Fremen version of a Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, possessing Other
Memory but none of the standard Bene Gesserit training.
Selamlik ~Imperial audience chamber. Especially for men.
Shadout ~ Well-dipper. A Fremen honourific.
Shah-Nama ~The half-legendary First Book of the Zensunni Wanderers.
Shai-Hulud ~ Fremen name for the sandworms of Arrakis.
Shuc ~ one
Sihaya ~ Fremen: the desert springtime with religious overtones implying the time of
fruitfulness and 'the paradise to come.'
Sirat ~ The passage in the O.C. Bible that describes human life as a journey across a
narrow bridge (the Sirat) with 'Paradise on my right, Hell on my left and the Angel of
Death behind.'
Soo-Soo Sook! ~ A water-seller's cry on Arrakis. Sook is a market place. (See Ikhuteigh!)
Subakh Ul Kuhar ~ 'Are you well?' a Fremen greeting.
Subakh Un Nar ~ 'I am well. And you?' traditional reply.
Sucta ~ six
Tahaddi Al-Burhan ~ An ultimate test from which there can be no appeal (usually
because it brings death or destruction).
Tahaddi Challenge ~ Fremen challenge to mortal combat usually to test some primal
issue.
Taife ~ crew.
Taqwa ~ Fear of the god.
Tau, The ~ In Fremen terminology, that oneness of a sietch community enhanced by
spice diet and especially the tau orgy of oneness elicited by drinking the Water of Life.
Ulema ~ A Zensunni doctor of theology.
Ulot ~ Beloved left behind
Umma ~ One of the brotherhood of prophets; a term of scorn in the Imperium,
meaning any "wild" person given to fanatical prediction.
Usul ~ The base of the pillar.
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Wahid ~ Bring
Wallah ~ Oath
Was ~ Twice
Wenn? ~to which way?
Ya Hya Chouhada ~ 'Long live the Fighters!' The Fedaykin battle cry. Ya (now) in
this cry is augmented by the hya form (the ever-extended now). Chouhada (fighters)
carries this added meaning of fighters against injustice. There is a distinction in this
word that specifies the fighters are not struggling for anything, but consecrated against
a specific thing and that alone.
Ya! Ya! Yawm! ~ Fremen chanting cadence used in time of deep ritual significance.
Ya carries the root meaning of 'Now pay attention!' The yawm form is a modified term
calling for urgent immediacy. The chant is usually translated as 'Now hear this!'
Zayn (Zein)~ Beneficial, good, well
Zeliman ~ Grim
Zensunni ~ Ancient religious sect, ancestors of the Fremen. Combination of Zen
Buddhism and Islam Sunni.
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