This is a glossary of alternate vocabulary and terminology appearing in Doug Hoff's Empty America timeline.

The page consists of several vocabulary lists and is arranged according to topic. Due to the highly different geographic and etnonymic terminology of the timeline, alternate geographic placenames are not only included, but take precedence. An OTL term is listed first and underlined, followed by the timeline's ATL term in bold lettering, and then a brief explanation. The only exception to this are terms that have no direct or easy OTL equivalent.

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Acapulco: “Kuei-Men”.

Alabama: “Annwyfn”.

Alaska: “Hyperborea”.

Antigua: “Isola da Spezie”.

Argentina: “Capraria”.

Atlantic Ocean: “Western Ocean” / “Britannic Ocean”.

Australia: “Kumari Kandam”. Named by south Indian explorers and colonists, after the mythical continent from Tamil mythology.

Boston, Massachusetts: “Gospatric”.

Buenos Aires: “Abaton”.

Canary Islands: “Isole del Benedetto” (“Isles of the Blessed”).

Cape Town: “Alfheim”.

(The) Carribean: “(The) Ursulines”.

Castletown, Isle of Man: “Kastaliborg”, in the Kingdom of Man, Vinland Empire.

Charleston, South Carolina: “Newcastle”, the capital of the Kingdom of Avalon.

Colorado: “Xuanpu”.

Colombia: “Tarshish”.

Cuba: “San Erasmus”.

Dominica: “San Marco”.

Greenville, South Carolina: “Caelestis”.

Gulf of Mexico: “Gulf of of Maupertuis”.

Hudson River: “Thjorsa”, which is also an OTL name for a river in Iceland.

India: “Bharatas”.

Jamaica: “Jasirah al-Zanata”.

Long Island: “Streymoy”, which is also an OTL name for one of the Faroe Islands.

Martinique: “Rivoalto”.

Mississippi River: “Afon Ganol”.

Missouri River: “Aquilonia”.

Montréal: “Flotbjarg”.

North America: “Ultima Thule”.

Newfoundland: “Markland”.

New Orleans: “Ciutat Majestuós”.

New York: “Jorvik”.

New Zealand: “Thuvaraiyam Pathi”. A name given to the archipelago by south Indian explorers and colonists.

Niagara: “Fossborg”.

Pacific Ocean: “Dōnghǎi” / “Eastern Ocean”.

Panama City: “ “.

Pascagoula, Mississippi: “Quiquendone”.

Pittsburgh: “Bilskinir”.

Port Huron: “Hvideborg”.

Potosi, Bolivia: “Yinshang”.

Rocky Mountains: “Riphean Mountains”.

Sag Harbour: “Tivrhofn”.

Saint Lucia: “Burano”.

Saint-Martin, Sint Marteen, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla: “Archipelago da San Ranieri”.

Saint Vincent: “Torcello”.

San Francisco: “Jen Men”.

Santiago de Cuba: The ATL equivalent lies in Alessandria Province, San Erasmus (OTL Cuba).

Santo Domingo: “Foix”.

Savannah, Georgia: “San Braulio”, in Nueva Cataluña.

South America: “Whitsunland” and “Terranova”.

Toronto: “Nye Svalbarð”.

Turks and Caicos: ”(The) Perditas”.

Veracruz: “Ti-chu Shih”. or “Shih” for short.

Cocaigne - Roughly between OTL’s James River and Pamlico Sound.

Commonwealth of Cantre’r Gwaelod - Roughly OTL northern Missouri and Kansas.

Commonwealth of Serendib - Roughly OTL northeast Florida, centered on St. Augustine.

County of Drengeard - The OTL Chesapeake region.

Domstolland - Roughly OTL New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan (excluding the Upper Peninsula), Indiana, Illinois. In the west, Domstolland encompasses almost all of Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, the northern third of Oregon and Washington State up to Tacoma..

Hop - Roughly OTL New Brunswick.

Hrafenmark - Largelly OTL Ohio.

Kingdom of Avalon - OTL South Carolina.

Mu-lan-P'i - OTL southern Mexico.

Niwe Wessex - OTL Massachusetts Bay Colony area.

Niwe Wessex - Roughly New England, extending northwest to the St. Lawrence River and west to the Connecticut River: OTL Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and those parts of Connecticut not facing Long Island.

Nueva Cataluña - Roughly OTL Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, the southern half of Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida.

Hrafenmark - Roughly OTL Indiana and Illinois.

Hy Brasil - Roughly OTL Louisiana and East Texas. Named after the mythic western island from medieval European folk tales.

Solbjorgland - Most of the OTL Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

Tàipíng Tian Guó - OTL Utah and Colorado.

Xibei Empire - The southern two thirds of Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico.

Empire of Zhongyang - OTL Mexico, Central America.

Dǎo mín - Polynesians (Chinese term).

Fu-Lang - Franks (Chinese term).

Nangiyan - New World Chinese (Chinese term).

Pai-Hua - Chinese (language).

Anglo-American / English-speaking: ““.

Transatlantic / Atlanticist: “Britannic”.

Central prefecture: “Zhōngbù Dìqū”.

Governors: “Proveditori”.

TBA

Coffee: “Kaffee”.

Giant sloths: “Gegants” (gigants, giants, gigantic). These are Pleistocene era Megatherium.

Mammoth: Known under the folk name “oliphaunt” or “wild oliphaunt”. They're mostly referred to interchangeably in the story with mastodons, their proboscid cousins.

Mastodon: Known under the folk name “oliphaunt” or “wild oliphaunt”. They're mostly referred to interchangeably in the story with mammoths, their proboscid cousins.

Tobacco: “Tubbaq”.

Aircraft: ”“.

Airship: ”“.

Assembly line: ”“.

Bicycle: ”“.

Bit (computing): ”“.

Car: ”“.

Computer: ”“.

Cotton gin: ”“.

Guillotine: ”“.

Hologram: ”“.

Hovercraft: ”“.

Laser: ”“.

Nuclear reactor: ”“.

Particle accelerator: ”“.

Photography: ”“.

Pixel: ”“.

Radar: ”“.

Radio: ”“.

Sonar: ”“.

Submarine: ”“.

Telegraphy and Telegrams: ”“

Telephone: ”“.

Television: ”“.

Typewriter: ”“.

Battleship: “Zhu li jian” (Chinese).

Bullet: “Zi dàn” in Chinese.

Cannon: “Qiang” in Chinese. A typical field cannon is also called a “Culverin” in English, based on a specific type of late-medieval and early modern cannon, one of the predecessors of later field cannons.

Carbine: “Falconet”. In OTL, the term was used both for a type of early modern cannon and handheld firearm, but is now used only for the artillery piece. In this timeline, it seems to be used exclusively for handheld firearms.

Gunpowder: “Huo yao” in Chinese.

Mortar: “Bombard”. Also describes earlier, late-medieval bombards, very similar to those of OTL.

Musket: “Moschetto”. Musketry is called, accordingly, “muschetta-work”.

Organ gun: “Ribault”, a late-medieval multiple-barreled artillery piece. Also called a ribault in OTL, but here it stuck as the preferred term.

Rifle: “Bù qiang” in Chinese. The ATL has an equivalent of the OTL Ferguson breech-loading rifle, apparently a New World Chinese invention. One earlier type of rifle or musket is known in English as “Faucon”, name possibly inspired by a falcon.

Shotgun: “Escopeta”.

Capitalism: ”“.

Environmentalism: ”“.

Feminism: ”“.

“Forn Siðr”: Literally, “old religion”.

Timeline: ”“.

Films / Drama films: “Kinodrama”.

Empty America - Archived Version

Empty America