Foreword:

People who read my story often tell me they get confused with all the names and terms in "Oath to the Gods", and often find them difficult to pronounce. So I decided to help them out a little by creating this lexicon, which will be your "look it up and read" guide to the world of Atavichshizt.

Most of the terms I created are here, along with a few important words that are not in the Atavichshiztan language, but nevertheless contribute to overall betterment of the story. I have placed them here in alphabetical order, complete with a pronunciation guide and descriptions, along with a few tidbits that are not mentioned in the story, to show you a little more of the culture and beliefs of the peoples of Atavichshizt.

I will discuss two letters in each chapter, to make it easier for me write and easier for you, the reader, to look it up. Because the story is still a work in progress, I will eventually add more words to the list as time progresses, so please bear with me. Also, please tell me when I missed something that you would like to know a little more about, and e-mail me so I could write an entry for it. I had always been very fond of mythology and you can see some similarities from the Greek and Teutonic mythologies in my work.

Lastly, I would like to thank Love and Shadow for giving me the idea, and Ghidora16 who told me he will soon add mythological references to his works. I just sort of followed his example.

First of all, all words are pronounced as they are, each vowel normally pronounced separately. For example the name "Fae". As opposed to "Fay" as most people pronounce it, the vowels are pronounced separately from each other, as in: FAH- EH. The same goes for "Chakaa", which is pronounced as CHA-kah- ah. However, when an "h" follows a consonant, it is often not pronounced and remans a "silent h" like in "when", in exception to "sh" which is prounounced as in "share".

As for stress, I suppose it varies for most names so I will leave it for you to determine. However, the stress usually falls on the first syllables of two syllable words and on the second syllable of three or more syllable words. For example "Travisten" (trah-VIS-ten) the stress is in the second syllable.

Here are a few important pointers:

A is always pronounced as "ah" as in the words "alarm", "amends" and "sad".

Ay sounds like the "ay" in "stay" or "ray".

C is always pronounced as a "k", as in the words "cat" and "cook".

Ch is pronounced as "ch" as in "church" or "cheese" when it finds itself in the beginning of a word. However, when it is in the middle or the end of a word, the pronunciation changes to "chr" (is this correct?), the German and Welsh sound as in the word "loch". An example of this is "Vestioch" which is pronounced as "Vess- TEE- ochr".

E is pronounced as "eh" as in "skeleton" and "egg." Even when it is a double e, it is still pronounced as "eh-eh" as opposed to "ee" in "see".

G always sounds like the g in "god" and "bag", never as the sound in "page".

I is pronounced like the i in "win" or "ee" (like in the word "tree"). It is never pronounced as "ai" like in "smile" or "island".

J is always the "dj" sound, like in "joke" and "jester".

NG sounds like the "ng" in "wing".

O is always pronounced as the shorter "o" like in "order" or "opposite" but never the longer "o" like in "drove".

Sh is like the "sh" in "shake".

U is usually pronounced as a short "oo" like in the sound that the words "look" or "book" makes. But sometimes it is used as the longer "oo" like the word "tune" or the sound of the word: "moon".

X is always as "ks" like in "extreme". For example: "Ochxeze" is "Ochr-kseh-tseh"

Y is like "y" in "yogurt" or "young".

Z is always pronounced as "ts" like in the German "zimmer" or the "ts" in "bets" when it is found in the middle or end of a word. However, this changes to "zz" like in the words "buzz" and "zoom" when it finds itself at the beginning of a word.

So, I think this is enough to get you going! The letters that were not mentioned are pronounced as it is in normal English. Enjoy!