Common dictionary

Most players in our world simply use Common as a direct translation from whatever language they speak. However, certain words are different, as demonstrated by the following list.

A

 * alae
 * "Fortunate Meeting". A contraction of an elven phrase. It was a greeting and reassurance of peaceful intentions between travelers in the southern and eastern coast lands around the Sea of Fallen Stars. It became a common greeting across all Faerûn during the 15 century DR.


 * alavairthae
 * "May your skill prevail". A common farewell among the Red Wizards of Thay.


 * alehouse
 * tavern.


 * amarast
 * "Fare well until next we meet!". A common farewell among the sailors of the South, originally a word from Turmic.


 * anyhail
 * anyhow, anyway.


 * Art or The Art
 * Arcane magic and its mastery.

B

 * badaulder
 * hogwash, nonsense, etc. It originated in the Western Heartlands, but in the late 14 century DR its usage crept into Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Moonsea, and Sembia.


 * battlebud
 * "dyke" (derogatory)


 * bindworthy
 * "You are weak or wrong or stupid or rash enough to be easily bound by a mortal, and fittingly bound" (an expletive used by devils)


 * blood of the night
 * the essence or nature of what it is to steal for a living.


 * bluefin
 * tuna


 * blusterwing
 * grouse


 * blynndur
 * a small loaf of bread with a hard crust and fireseared herbs and greens inserted for flavor. Often used as a bowl for soup or stew when dining away from civilization.


 * brightbirds
 * a pair who are courting but not necessarily intimate.


 * brightcoin
 * a successful and socially rising person. Can be turned to an insult by combination with other words that give context.


 * brightheart
 * the person your heart is set upon after courting in public.


 * brightstar
 * great, exciting, pleasing, marvelous, or superb.


 * browncap
 * a wild mushroom.


 * bullyblade
 * an opportunistic thug for hire, often hired in gangs.


 * burslake (or simply slake)
 * trout


 * bustard
 * turkey

C

 * candle-cup
 * a bed paired with a table and an oil lamp.


 * cantrev
 * Moonshae term for a village, town, or other settled community.


 * cask-smasher
 * a vandal.


 * casking
 * the act of vandalizing.


 * chamberjack or chambermaid, informally jack or maid
 * an employee of a small inn.


 * clevershanks or clevertongue
 * a know-it-all. The first word refers to men, the second to women.


 * cod-loose winker
 * "Casanova", "tireless woman-chaser" (derogatory)


 * coin-lad
 * "male prostitute"


 * coin-lass
 * "female prostitute"


 * croft
 * an isolated farmstead.


 * crofter
 * the owner of a croft, or a worker of said croft (usually, kin to the owner). Can also be used as substitute for farmer.

D

 * darburl
 * angry.


 * darchains
 * suites of linked rooms in a house, usually three.


 * darkback skewer
 * meat from rodents (rats, voles, sometimes mice, weasels, or mink) fried and served on a needle of wood with onion.


 * darkblade
 * a mercenary with dubious morals and/or loyalty.


 * darkhall
 * any rundown house.


 * dathna
 * "male homosexual"


 * dayblood
 * a novice thief, who "doesn't have the blood of the night in them".


 * deepnight
 * midnight.


 * doorsword
 * a guard that guards a doorway of a building.


 * durgos
 * "peace". A corrupted form of the orcish greeting "Durgreos". Used by mongrelmen and human slavers. In the 15 century DR, it as also a popular greeting among dragonborn, and traders and sailors of all races.


 * dusk
 * "masochistic man" (derogatory)


 * dusk rose
 * "masochistic woman"

E

 * elsun
 * late morning.


 * emerald eyes
 * a Calishite dish made from small green fish, squid, snails, and mussels, all chopped together, hotly spiced, and pickled.


 * evenfeast
 * dinner.


 * eventide
 * gloaming.

F

 * fieldings
 * vegetables (mainly cabbage, leeks, parsnips, and potatoes, but also carrots, onions, and radishes)


 * filidar
 * a dainty food item, picnic, or feast; for example, "a fine filidar it was, too". Derived from the name of Prince Filidar.


 * fireseared
 * grilled


 * flame in the belly
 * a sweet peach jelly made with zzar and red-pepper spices from Calimshan.


 * flamed
 * seared


 * fumblehands
 * an incompetent or clumsy thief.

G

 * galad
 * Heartlands word meaning something akin to "I'm astonished!"


 * garderobe
 * bathroom. Another term for a bathroom was jakes. Outdoor bathrooms were called privies, thunderthrones, or gloryhouses.


 * glim/glimmer
 * something beautiful or flashy.


 * goldenpanned
 * sautéed.


 * godswake
 * predawn.


 * goodsir and goodwoman, or sometimes fairlady
 * a polite greeting, usually used with strangers.


 * groundsnake
 * any edible snake. Typically served chopped into chunks and fried.


 * gulletfire
 * beer or wine that isn't pleasant to drink, but doesn't cause illness, either.

H

 * haelhard
 * office worker.


 * hand-tart
 * hand-sized pastry filled with meat (usually bustard with other game) and a strip of boar fat (boar bacon). Baked.


 * harbright
 * full morning.


 * hardjaw
 * a garrulous regular of a tavern; a barfly.


 * harnor
 * "butch" (derogatory)


 * haularake
 * god-damnit. It was an all-faith polite insult.


 * hawksnarl
 * a man who always yelled or was nastier or more aggressive than prudent or necessary.


 * hay-nose
 * a hick. Bumpkin is also used for this term.


 * High Tongue
 * The standard magical script used by wizards for recording spells in spellbooks and scrolls.


 * highborn or high-nose
 * a noble. The second word was a pejorative.


 * highmantle
 * someone who is politely haughty and superior, rather than rude. A compliment to their manners and bearing.


 * highsun
 * noon.


 * highsunfeast
 * lunch.


 * hiresword
 * a mercenary.


 * hold
 * a fortified homestead.


 * holy-nose
 * a priest. A mildly-offensive term.


 * hrast ( or hrammar in the south
 * a non-deity-specific "damn".


 * hrasting (
 * a mild form of stlarning; different meaning to hrast.


 * hykyath
 * prance. It is used by satyrs as a parting word. It is frequently used by elven or half-elven poets. Orcs are known to use the term in battle.

J

 * joint
 * a cut of meat.

K

 * keghand
 * a male waiter or other serving staff.


 * kell
 * to try. It was a derisive, cynical or disbelieving word, used only when the thing you were trying to do seemed to be impossible. Kell never changed due to tense.


 * knuckle or thumbknuckle
 * brussels sprout

L

 * lalandath
 * agile, sleek or lithe, often used to describe female dancers whose beauty was accentuated by their movements.


 * lammath drios
 * "Fortune find you." Parting used in Essembra and the surrounding lands (except Sembia, as they see it as a word only used by bumpkins).


 * lifeblood
 * women's periods.

M

 * mayhap
 * perhaps.


 * marraskh
 * "Get gone, NOW, to being a lemure or a worm on some other plane!"


 * marrado beans
 * seeds (presumably of the marrado plant) that resembled kidney beans except blood-red in color, typically dried for export from Tethyr and eastern Amn.


 * message tart
 * a hand-tart with a concealed message inside, usually engraved on a clay disk to survive the baking process.


 * moonblood
 * women's periods.


 * morningfeast
 * breakfast.


 * murdath
 * a standath without cellars.


 * my hearth
 * my house. A term usually used to refer to a cottage.

N

 * naeth (, drawn-out "th") or naed in the south
 * dung (exclamation).


 * nandra
 * something mediocre. Usually used to bicker over prices.


 * navalar
 * catfish


 * newcoin
 * a newly-wealthy person who spends to show off. A perjorative.


 * nightblood
 * a general term for a professional thief.


 * nightfall
 * dusk.


 * nightjack or nightmaid, informally potjack and potmaid
 * an employee of a large inn.

O

 * oloré
 * "Well met" or "Good day". A common greeting in the lands surrounding the Sea of Fallen Stars.


 * on the morrow
 * tomorrow.


 * orbal
 * the Shining South equivalent of naeth.


 * outlander
 * a foreigner.

P

 * poised
 * term used to refer to an individual in the process of transitioning between genders.


 * plounce
 * squab (young pigeon).


 * parharding
 * a swear word used as an adjective ("Parharding wizard!")


 * Power or the Power
 * Divine magic.


 * punnet
 * a small basket made of rushes used as a unit for selling vegetables

R

 * rhambukkya
 * "ride high". Greeting used by Shaaryan nomads and the inhabitants of Elfharrow.


 * rivvim
 * smitten, in love, lusty. As in "I'm rivvim for her".


 * roofwrack
 * a dilapidated house.


 * rose
 * "submissive female"

S

 * sabbas
 * "run free." A parting used by centaurs, and by many nomads and riders of many races.


 * sabruin
 * "Get lost" or harsher similar words.


 * scorchkettle
 * a woman who always yelled or was nastier or more aggressive than prudent or necessary. Sometimes, it was used to refer to both genders.


 * saer
 * sir, goodsir.


 * sark (, drawn-out "s")
 * a more offensive form of haularake.


 * sellsword
 * a well-established or veteran mercenary.


 * Selûne's kiss
 * women's periods.


 * shaeling
 * minnow


 * sheelie
 * bass


 * shield (food)
 * pastry crust


 * shitting
 * used before a term to express antipathy, or intensify something already bad. "It's broken. It's shitting broken."


 * sildur
 * an Elven loan-word, this term referred to individuals that had settled into a gender other than their birth gender.


 * silverfin
 * whitefish


 * simpering man-lover
 * "effeminate male homosexual" (derogatory)


 * skaether
 * restaurant


 * slake
 * trout


 * sleer
 * an expletive used by devils


 * softshadow
 * a veteran, skilled thief.


 * sorn
 * salmon


 * spear (food), also known as greenneedles
 * Asparagus


 * spurnarmor
 * a good-looking man or woman with a spectacular figure.


 * standath
 * a rectangular stone building with cellars. Common across the Dragon Reach and Moonsea.


 * steading
 * an isolated farm.


 * stettar voh (stet-tar VOH)
 * "Gods-power keep you well." A formal, peaceful greeting and parting among merchants in southern Faerûn and in Laerakond.


 * stlarn
 * polite equivalent of F-word. About as blasphemous as "darn" used where we might say "screw" or "screwing" (stlarning).


 * stonebolt
 * a lidless, small clay pot with a long handle, often sealed with wax and used for selling, storing, and transporting food items. Size and capacity ranged from a human fist to a human head.


 * straek (, drawn-out "r")
 * something akin "go kill yourself, right now and painfully."

T

 * tallhouse
 * a tall, narrow, tenement-like building sharing side walls with adjacent buildings. Tallhouses were common in Waterdeep, Athkatla, and the cities of Sembia in the 14 and 15 centuries DR.


 * tantam
 * a common greeting in the North.


 * tasmar
 * "bisexual man"


 * tavernmaster or tankard-tender
 * an innkeeper or the owner of a tavern.


 * tenday
 * a ten day period, analogous to a week.


 * thael
 * glad, pleasant or heart-lifting.


 * thargur
 * sweet syrup made by adding diced apples and walnuts to molasses. Used in desserts.


 * tharsun
 * late afternoon.


 * throatslake
 * see, gulletfire. A healthy and thirst-quenching drink that wasn't particularly pleasant.


 * thruss
 * "lesbian"


 * this night
 * tonight.


 * thruster
 * a tireless social-climber. May imply a willingness to demean themselves or perform dark deeds.


 * thulsun
 * early afternoon.


 * tindertwig
 * a match


 * tluin
 * a stronger form of sabruin.


 * turnshield
 * polite cormyrean term for bastard.

U

 * uluvathae
 * "Fortune bring you joy" or "May your fortune bring you joy". Used by elves and half-elves as an informal greeting or parting.


 * under the moon
 * can be said of a woman during her menstruation.

V

 * vasark
 * horsemeat.


 * vlandranna
 * "Gods grant". Used in conjunction with with whatever you wanted the gods to grant you. A corrupted Dwarven word used by those living on and around the Sea of Fallen Stars.

W

 * waelo
 * equivalent to "Hey there!".


 * wanton
 * "promiscuous female" (derogatory)


 * wench
 * a barmaid or a waitress.


 * whitesmith
 * someone who did light metalwork.


 * whorson
 * an insult, probably a contraction of "whore's son"


 * wild one
 * "someone who enjoys having (shapechanging) spells cast upon them as part of sexual play" (derogatory)


 * winker
 * "lecher" (derogatory)

Z

 * zzar
 * ice wine.