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Re: Krolik and other animals
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Re: [NABOKV-L] Krolik and other animals
Stan Kelly-Bootle (to Jansy) " ‘Orthodox’ etymologies are somewhat Oxymoronic. We hardly need to invoke Levy-Strauss to be convinced that all etymologies are ultimately dubious! We can only trace origins back, with any degree of credibility, to early, mangled, surviving written sources, which represents a mere blink in human-language history....Reconstructions, such as PIE (Proto Indo European), are made by comparing word forms in extant Indo-European family members (which include VN’s three: Russian/English/French), and back-tracking to plausible, common roots...You really have to look beyond the superficial relationships given by modern alphabetic transliterations. There’s never enough letters to cope (whence the huge IPA character set)! Old English Cyng, German Ko:nig/Kaiser, Polish Krol, Latin Caesar, and derived personal names, are all clearly related (boringly orthodox!) Less obvious are links with Rex/ Rajah and Tsar/Shah. Whence VN shouting Check and Checkmate! The Shah is Dead. The Solus Rex is on the MAT (geddit?) ...In addition to the familiar Rex we have, Pótis pointing plausibly to Potentate, Emperor and Power, via Latin posse (who really knows?)
JM: Ah! Point taken. And yet, Nabokovian word-play includes "superficial relationships given by modern ...," and poetic 'licenciousness' (etc).
Thanks for including a remark on Tsar/Shah. I'd been puzzled by one of its uses in "Ada":
"No wonder the place was emptovato, as Lucette observed, and she went on to say that the Robinsons had saved her life by giving her on the eve a tubeful of Quietus Pills. ‘Want one? One a day keeps "no shah" away. Pun. You can chew it, it’s sweet.’"
From the context, there must be a connection between "no shah" and "doctor" ( "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"), also with the all the leporine doctors. Not that I was able to geddit: there's not even the slightest hint of illumination. At least, one missing piece has been added to the muddle (mine, only mine - but I'll persevere).
.
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Stan Kelly-Bootle (to Jansy) " ‘Orthodox’ etymologies are somewhat Oxymoronic. We hardly need to invoke Levy-Strauss to be convinced that all etymologies are ultimately dubious! We can only trace origins back, with any degree of credibility, to early, mangled, surviving written sources, which represents a mere blink in human-language history....Reconstructions, such as PIE (Proto Indo European), are made by comparing word forms in extant Indo-European family members (which include VN’s three: Russian/English/French), and back-tracking to plausible, common roots...You really have to look beyond the superficial relationships given by modern alphabetic transliterations. There’s never enough letters to cope (whence the huge IPA character set)! Old English Cyng, German Ko:nig/Kaiser, Polish Krol, Latin Caesar, and derived personal names, are all clearly related (boringly orthodox!) Less obvious are links with Rex/ Rajah and Tsar/Shah. Whence VN shouting Check and Checkmate! The Shah is Dead. The Solus Rex is on the MAT (geddit?) ...In addition to the familiar Rex we have, Pótis pointing plausibly to Potentate, Emperor and Power, via Latin posse (who really knows?)
JM: Ah! Point taken. And yet, Nabokovian word-play includes "superficial relationships given by modern ...," and poetic 'licenciousness' (etc).
Thanks for including a remark on Tsar/Shah. I'd been puzzled by one of its uses in "Ada":
"No wonder the place was emptovato, as Lucette observed, and she went on to say that the Robinsons had saved her life by giving her on the eve a tubeful of Quietus Pills. ‘Want one? One a day keeps "no shah" away. Pun. You can chew it, it’s sweet.’"
From the context, there must be a connection between "no shah" and "doctor" ( "an apple a day keeps the doctor away"), also with the all the leporine doctors. Not that I was able to geddit: there's not even the slightest hint of illumination. At least, one missing piece has been added to the muddle (mine, only mine - but I'll persevere).
.
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/