Hnau

In the fiction of C. S. Lewis, namely Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in his Space Trilogy, hnau is a word in the Old Solar language which refers to "sentients" such as Humans. In the book, the Old Solar speaker specifies that God is not hnau, and is unsure whether Eldili (immortal angelic beings) can be termed "hnau", deciding that if they are hnau, they are a different kind of hnau than Humans or Martians:

::...It became plain that Maleldil was a spirit without body, parts or passions.
::"He is not hnau," said the hrossa.
::"What is hnau?" asked Ransom.
::"You are hnau. I am hnau. The séroni are hnau. The pfifltriggi are hnau." ...
::"Which of the hnau rule?" asked.
::"Oyarsa rules," was the reply.
::"Is he hnau?"
::This puzzled them a little... Perhaps Oyarsa was a hnau, but a very different hnau. He had no death and no young.

It is implied that strictly speaking, hnau are physical beings with moral agency, as distinct from God (who is a spirit) and also from animals (which are not reasoning beings and are not morally responsible). In other words, hnau are any intelligent beings having a spirit and a body. It is wrong to kill a hnau, and it is considered murder. Only Maleldil (Jesus) may choose to end a hnaus life. Since hnau have a spirit, this bdeath is only death in this world, but also a birth of a new, eternal life, such as Heaven.

Hnau is the Old Solar way of spelling the word, but as pfifltriggi and séroni have variations of this language, a séroni may pronounce it Nau, without the "h", as the séroni drop the "h" sound at the beginnings of words.

Adoption of the Term, Hnau

The term was adopted by some other people, including Lewis' friend J. R. R. Tolkien, who used the term in some of his essays on the nature of his fictional Elves and Men. Similarly, a character in James Blish's science fiction novel A Case of Conscience wonders whether a particular alien is a hnau, which he defines as having "a rational soul".

In recent times the term has been used by some philosophers, for example in Thomas I. White's "Is a Dolphin a Person?", where he asks if Dolphins are persons, and if such, if they can also be reckoned as hnau: that is sentient beings of the same level as humans.

Other uses of the term include the term as used by some Christians: here as with Tolkien's use of the term "hnau" refers to sentient beings possessing independent will, and thus by extension a soul.

List of Hnau

Pfifltrig (pl. pfifltriggi)- The pfifltriggi have tapir-like heads (with a bulge at the back containing the brain) and frog-like bodies; they lean their elbows on the ground when at rest, and sometimes when working with their hands. Their movements are quick and insectlike. They are the builders and technicians of Malacandra. They build houses and gadgets thought up by the séroni. They also are miners who especially like to dig up "sun's blood" (arbol hru) or gold. They are the only species said to wear a form of clothes, other than the hrossa, and even wear goggles to protect their eyes

Hross (pl. hrossa, f. pl. hressni)- The hrossa resemble otters or seals except that they are bipeds, somewhat taller and thinner than humans. They live in the low river valleys (handramit) and specialize in farming, fishing, and performing arts such as dancing and poetry. They are especially gifted in making poetry yet they refuse to write it down since they believe that books ruin words and poems. Their technical level is very low, simply because they are not interested in raising it, although they do wear pocketed loincloths (Ransom mistakes these as genitals). The boats that they build are similar to our canoes. They add an initial /h/ sound to words beginning in n, m, r, l. Their language is known as Hressa-hlab.

Sorn (pl. séroni, and sometimes the Anglicized sorns)-The séroni are thin, fifteen-foot-high humanoids with coats of pale feathers and seven-fingered hands. They raise giraffe-like livestock on the high plateaus (harandra) above the valleys, where they breathe much thinner and colder air than man. One variant of them, living in the deserts of the north, is called soroborn or "red sorn". The séroni are the scholars and thinkers of Malacandra, specializing in science and abstract learning. Their technical level is futuristically high, though they usually just design the machinery, which is then built by the pfifltriggi. Similarly, they do not write or compose written works of history or fiction as they feel the hrossa are superior at it. Their language is called Surnibur.

HmÄ?n (pl. hmÄ?na) - humans. The only hnau on Thulcandra (earth), with the exception of the bent eldila. Also, a green version of Thulcandran hmÄ?na, Perelandran hmÄ?na inhabit Perelandra (Venus). In Clive Lewis' second book in the Space Trilogy, Perelandra, there are only two of such hmÄ?na, a parallel of Thulcandra's Adam and Eve, the difference being they don't give in. As the hrossa had not known of humans before Ransom's visit to Malacandra they had no native word for them; hmÄ?n is a borrowing from the English word "man".

Eldil (pl. eldila)- It is disputible whether or not eldila are really hnau, since it is never really confirmed. They could be considered half hnau since they have no body, but only a spirit. The are almost impossible to see, but when seen, they often look like a shaft of light or wind. At one point, on Perelandra, the Oyarsa of Perelandra and the Oyarsa of Malacandra, who are eldila, make themselves visible as gigantic humanoids, neither being male nor female. Ransom describes them as being every color, yet no color. They are immortal and are the helpers of Maleldil the Young and "The Old One," (i.e. "angels")

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