Book Review: The Jack Vance Lexicon The Coined Words of Jack Vance: From Abiloid to Zygage

Book Review: The Jack Vance Lexicon The Coined Words of Jack Vance: From Abiloid to Zygage-Dan Temianka and Jack Vance

Vancealot: Jack Vance in Review, TJ Jones

Spatterlight Press, trade paperback, 232 pages

Release Date: 1992

Availability: May be purchased new from Amazon as of 2/24.

Dan Temianka originally compiled this lexicon in 1992 but updated it in 2016.  He added 160 more entries to the update and re-indexed the 1800 items from the first edition.  Vance fans owe much to Temianka, those who assisted him and to Spatterlight Press.  This book is not for the casual reader but is indispensable to dedicated Vance fans.  Other readers might like this as a reference book while they read Vance's writings.  I actually enjoyed reading it front to cover and then returned to it for further enjoyment.  I rate it a 5 with the qualification that it will appeal mostly to those who love the writings of Jack Vance.

Vance wrote three more novels after the initial Jack Vance Lexicon was issued in 1992.  These were Night Lamp, Ports of Call and Lurulu.  Temianka offers thanks to the ten consultants who contributed to this wonderful effort.  After mentioning a few other authors who invented fascinating new words Temianka concludes, "But for sheer variety, quality and above all, charm of his neologisms, I submit that none can compare with Jack Vance." 

Most of the words Vance invented were nouns, many of these plants, animals, foods, musical instruments and weapons.  But other common words related to magical spells, cultural concepts, rituals and religious concepts.  Among the colorful adjectives Temianka mentions are saualmaceous and halcosiitic.  A few of the verbs he mentions are disturgle and skirkling.  We all have our favorites, of course. 

Temianka explains why he included some words and not others.  Vance was so prolific and was such a wordsmith that even 232 pages cannot include all the words Vance invented.  I am unaware of any writer from any era who even comes remotely close to having coined so many new words.  And many times he uses a real word that seems coined but is simply rarely used.  Even more often Vance invents a word that we expect to find in the dictionary but it is not there.  Temianka explains how Vance used Latin or other root origins and improvised from there. He also had an amazing ability to create words that make sense and sound as though they should exist. 

Temianka breaks Vance's coined words down into seven etymological categories which he explains.  Some are totally fabricated.  Others draw from some identifiable root word.  Some, which are not included in the lexicon, are variant usages or are obsolete words.  We all know that Vance had an amazing ability to come up with unusual names for characters, but these names also are not included in the lexicon.  It would be enjoyable to read a list of all Vance characters with their odd names and roles; I imagine at least one fan has already developed such a list.  The listing in this lexicon is alphabetical and abbreviations of sources are explained prior to the listing.  In the actual listing the source is cited and the chapter also indicated.  A sentence or two from the text is included for syntax.  Avid Vance readers will recognize most of the words listed but might need a prompt to remember the meaning or source. 

So if you deeply love the works of Jack Vance you will want a copy of this lexicon and will enjoy reading it and using it as a reference.  If you are a casual Vance reader this might appeal to you as a reference work while reading Vance.  If you love semantics, lexicography or linguistics in general, this might have some appeal.  It is simply not a book to be read from front to cover by the casual reader.  I derived immense enjoyment from reading and re-reading this book and highly recommend it to Vance enthusiasts.  Rated 5.

Note: Spatterlight Press LLC is a publishing company that was created by the family and friends of Jack Vance. So far they have published 62 high quality trade paperback editions of Vance’s novels (all except three Ellery Queen mystery novels: Strange She Hasn’t Written, Death of a Solitary Chess Player, and The Man Who Walks Behind.) and collections of his shorter works. These are all based on the Vance Integral Edition (VIE) which were extensively reviewed and edited to be as faithful as possible to Vance’s original writings. Many of Vance’s works were altered or heavily edited by book and magazine editors with even the author’s titles changed. Spatterlight now offers to the general public access to Vance’s writings the way he originally intended them to be. In 2023 they began issuing hardcover editions of the same works they had printed in paperback. They also have e-book editions available at: www.jackvance.com 

Other works are listed here:  https://www.jackvance.com/signatureseries/