"'...a bimbashi...'" (p. 9) turns out to be a Turkish major (see here), not another kind of supernatural being.
Before being sent on a dangerous mission, Matuchek thinks:
"Ave, Caesar, morituri te salutant..." (p. 10)
More Latin, meaning:
"Hail, Caesar, those who are about to die salute you."
As the novel progresses, we should read more esoteric languages in magic spells.
Although the Gospels were written in Greek, they sometimes quote phrases in the original Aramaic. This might be partly because it was thought that the actual sounds uttered could be significant in a miracle, as in a magical incantation.
"Talitha cumi..."
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Or because the disciples of Christ, originally speaking Aramaic, would naturally tend to use Aramaic words, some of which were carried over into the Greek texts. Matthew and Mark were, in literary terms, the most Semitic of the four Gospels.
Ad astra! Sean
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