Dark Tower Glossary

AN-TET: The term tet refers to people linked by the same destiny or goals. An-tet implies an intimate emotional link. It can also imply sexual intimacy.

CHAR: Most words in High Speech have multiple meanings. However, char is an exception to this general rule. Char has one meaning only, and that is death. Char is the root of many Mid-World terms, including Big Charlie Wind and Charyou Tree.

DINH: A dinh is a leader or king. Roland is the dihn or his ka-tet.

GUNNA: The term gunna appears to mean all one’s worldly goods.

KA: Like many words in High Speech, ka has multiple meanings and so is difficult to define precisely. It signifies life-force, consciousness, duty and destiny. In the vulgate, or low speech, it also means a place to which an individual must go. The closest terms in our language are probably fate and destiny.

KA-MAI: Ka-mai means ka’s fool.

KA-TEL: A ka-tel is a class of apprentice gunslingers.

KA-TET: Literally speaking, ka-tet means "one made from many." Ka refers to destiny; tet refers to a group of people with the same interests or goals. Ka-tet is the place where man lives are joined by fate.

KHEF: In the original tongue of the Old World, khef meant many different things, including water, birth, and life-force. It implied all that was essential to existence. At the beginning of The Gunslinger, we learn that one can progress through the kehf. When we meet Roland, he has "progressed through the khef over many years, and had reached the fifth level." Those who attain the higher levels of the khef (levels seven and eight) are able to have a clinical detachment from their bodies. The physical self may thirst, but the mind remains separate, a spectator.

SAI: Although used in low speech, Sai appears to be a form of address that originated in High Speech. Sai is a term of respect and can be roughly translated as sir or madam.

TET: A group of people with the same interests and goals.

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