Glossary
This glossary includes helpful vocabulary and allusions that will deepen your understanding of the words and worlds of Seven Guitars.
| WORD/PHRASE | DEFINTION |
|---|---|
| “A hundred and forty-four thousand people” | A passage from the Bible, the book of Revelation 7:4 –”And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” Some interpret this to mean that a fixed number of people will go to heaven–144,000 |
| Buddy Bolden | (n) Charles “Buddy” Bolden (1877-1931) was a cornetist and is widely credited as the person who originated New Orleans jazz and the genre of improvised music |
| D.O.A. | (adj) An abbreviation meaning “dead on arrival” |
| Druthers | (n) Preference or choice. |
| “Ethiopia shall rise up and be made a great Kingdom” | Derived from the Bible, Psalm 68:31; this verse is related closely to the work of Marcus Garvey and the Pan-African movement |
| Golden Seal | (n) Also known as Goldenseal, a perennial woodland herb |
| High John the Conqueror; Yellow Jack; Brer Rabbit; Uncle Ben | (n) Various mythical or mythicized figures in Black and African culture; when Floyd invokes these figures, he is saying that he’d take money from anyone who could give it to them, whether or not they are real |
| Joe Louis (1914-1981) | (n) An American boxer known as the Brown Bomber and the Mighty Black Man |
| Loendi Club | (n) A social club for upper-class Black residents of Pittsburgh; it was founded in 1897 |
| Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) | (n) The leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and Back to Africa Movement |
| Mint Juleps | (n) A bourbon-based cocktail |
| Parson | (n) A clergy person or pastor |
| Pinochle | (n) A card game |
| Queen Ester, Queen of Sheba | (n) Two highly-regarded Jewish queens from ancient times |
| Sanatorium | (n) A facility that provides long-term medical care and aids patients in recovery; also called sanitoriums, the facility mentioned in the play would have treated patients for tuberculosis and kept them in isolation to prevent the spread of the disease |
| “Say Uncle“ | (v) A demand of submission in a contest; the person saying “Uncle!” would essentially be saying, “You win!” or “Mercy!” |
| Signifying | (v) In AAVE, signifying means to express ideas indirectly and through playful turns of phrase |
| Smith and Wesson; Snub-Nose .32 | (n) Varieties of gun |
| St. John the Divine, St. John the Revelator, St. Yolanda, John the Baptist, Lazarus, Moabite | (n) Figures from the Bible |
| T.B. | (n) An abbreviation for tuberculosis, a disease caused by bacteria and primarily impacting the lungs; it is generally curable with antibiotics, but not until the mid-1940s. Without proper medical care and intervention, it is incredibly deadly. |
| Toussaint L’Ouverture (1743-1803) | (n) A formerly enslaved Haitian revolutionary who set the stage for Haitian independence |
| Whist | (n) A card game for four players who play in partnerships |