"522 Anno Coloniae Conditae:" (p. 112)
"538 A.C.C.:" (p. 121)
"553 A.C.C.;" (p. 126)
"569 A.C.C.:" (p. 132)
"583 A.C.C.:" (p. 135)
Two tall inscribed stones on the road to Ys were:
"'Raised DCLXXXVIII AVC obedient to orders of the SPOR, year XIII since the Sign came upon Brennilis, who with C. Julius Caesar did make the Oath.'"
-Poul Anderson, The King Of Ys: Roma Mater (London, 1989), VI, 2, p. 99.
AVC/AUC = Ab urbe condita, "from the founding of the city," or anno urbis conditae, "in the year since the city's founding."
ACC = Anno Coloniae Condita, "in the year since the founding of the colony."
While this Latin dating style links "Time Lag" to The King Of Ys, we notice again how often the wind intervenes in Poul Anderson's texts:
"The centurion did not argue, but rose and went forth on the deck, into the wind."
-Roma Mater, IV, 1, p. 66.
"Gratillonius felt the unknown touch him, cold as the wind."
-Roma Mater, VI, 3, p. 116.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
A few thoughts comes to mind. This use of Latin by the people of Vaynamo also shows they remembered their historic connections to Earth and its past, in this case, Classical Rome. A name like "Vaynamo" indicates its inhabitants were of Scandinavian and Finnish origins. And mention in the story of a church named after a saint made me think they were Lutherans.
It made sense for the Vaynamoans to devise a calendar that would fit into how long their planet orbited its star. The Gregorian calendar simply would not be practical for other worlds.
Ad astra! Sean
The agoric drive makes a STL interstellar empire more credible -- though even so, it would have to be very decentralized.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and I should have thought of that myself. But, the stars around which the planets of a STL interstellar empire orbits would have to be pretty "close" to each other. Probably no more than a sphere of space forty light years across. Nothing like the colossal FTL Terran Empire of the Technic stories!
Ad astra! Sean
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