But on Arrakis there were neither fig trees nor rains. But the proverb was not forgotten; rather, it Was adapted, substituting words so FREMEN LANGUAGE FREMEN LANGUAGE that it became "When you see the Conohs storm, then you can announce the el-saya!' Similarly children were chided for overeating with the words ida lam taktafil anta fil (if you cannot be satisfied, you are an elephant) To simply substitute the word for the most enormous beast they knew, the sandworm, for that of elephant would have destroyed fee meter of the proverb Instead, since no confusion was possible because elephants did not exist on Arrakis, the Fremen shifted the meaning of the word, applying it to the sandworm in its activities as an eater The Fremen practice of naming-personal names tribal names nicknames-continued to show its traditional vigor and color A high degree of concreteness marked the best examples of their naming customs The name of the famous Fremen wamor in the Atreidean jihad, Midn, meant) winnowing fork " Paul Muad Dib s resourceful lieutenant m the battles of Topaz, Akrab, bore a name that means ' scorpion " and his elite Hoops, the iday alakrab, were "the hands of the scorpion " The Fremen Medical Corps, Abma showed a rare instance TO fremen of the formation of an acronym its name stands for Anamilan Banyya Mm Al-dam (fingers innocent of blood) Nor did Fremen lose its flair for humor and invective in the assigmnent of names Count Qlossu Rabban was especially well endowed in this respect he was of course known as "Beast" Rabban, and called mudir nahya (Governor Cobra), a term that shows a contact with Indi speakers on Rossak, since it is a borrowed word, deriving from the ancient Hindu nag (snake) In addition to these, he was known as graffiti as tawalil (wart) during his term as governor of Arrakis, specifically, a wart on his uncle Vladimir Harkonnen, al-atanm (the jowl), sallat Allah bt kasw&tay h al jaam (may God give him mange in his genitals) Atreidean Fremen proved equal to all the labors that a hostile humanity and an indifferent nature could lay on it and on its speakers But what it could not survive was the hot house care of tile millennia-long rule of Leto II When the Fremen became "Museum Freroea," the old ways were preserved, but preserved lifelessly, like a fly m amber The Sayyadma no longer watched over the language, no longer brought the memories of theu: ancestors to ward and guide the speech of the people, and Fremen went through a period of rapid change It descended to the level of a school learned language, used for empty ntual shows for tourists Some Fremen, it is now believed, saw this fate coming, one such was al-Baz, "the falcon," Naib of Sietch Hagga As usual, his comment was proverbial, and one cannot but wonder if he intended a reference to Leto n when he said, afar nian yamut malak al mut (the last to die is the angel of death) WE M NOTES 'Cited in Daiwid Kuuan, Monuments of the Zensunni Migrations (Salusa Secundus Morgan andSharak) p 112 ^o avoid placing unnecessary difficulties in the reader's path all examples unless otherwise noted have been cited m die form they would have had in Classical Piemen that of about 9100 B G regardless of the stage in the development of the Zensunni language they were originally composed Further references ZENSUNNI MIROATIONS V Koryain A History of the Fremen Language (Paseo Institute of Galacto-Fremea Culture) from which are taken the ex araples found in this summary Ofor G Chesi Fremen Inscriptions from Rahs I R2346 Arrakis Studies 22 (Topaz Carolus Umv Press) FREMEN LANGUAGE.