In the world of the Awakened, I mention that there was a great tumult, an upset, a horrible catastrophe that shook the world in the distant past and sent a portion of humanity beneath the waves to survive. In my story world, I just call it “the Great Cataclysm.” But after looking up apocalypse last week, I thought it would be fun to look at this doom-and-destruction word too.
Cataclysm is another word that comes to us from Greek (via Latin and French). Kata- means “down” in Ancient Greek, and klyzein means “to wash.” So cataclysm is literally a wash-down…which was used in the sense of “deluge, flood.” So Noah’s flood? That was the originally-referenced cataclysm.
I honestly didn’t realize that when I named the event in my series, but it’s totally appropriate, given the results! As for what caused it? That remains shrouded in the mysteries of the past… 😉
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. 
