Subject
PALE FIRE: Disa - butterfly and orchid
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EDNOTE. Dieter Zimmer is the foremost German authority on VN. In addition
to his book on VN's butterflies, he is the editor of the Rowohlt edition of
Nabokov Collected Works.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dieter E. Zimmer" <mail@d-e-zimmer.de>
To: "Don Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 10:47 PM
Subject: Disa - butterfly and orchid
>
> Berlin, Oct 29, 2003 -- 7:30am
> mail@d-e-zimmer.de
>
> I don't know whether Nabokovians are meant or entitled to join the Pynchon
> fray, but nabokv-l readers should know that there is a much more likely nd
> specific explanation of the name 'Disa' than the one offered in
> pynchon-l-digest V2 #3617. Here is a quote from my "Guide to Nabokov's
> Butterflies and Moths 2001", pp. 147-148:
>
> <In the index of Pale Fire, there is "Disa, Duchess of Payn, of Great
> Payn and Mone; my [Kinbote's] lovely, pale, melancholy Queen, haunting my
> dreams, and haunted by dreams of me." The name certainly is a reference to
> [the butterfly] Erebia disa (Thunberg, 1791);the next entry in the indexis
> "Embla," another northern Erebia [alpine or ringlet] very close to disa
> (Erebia embla) also named by Swedish entomologist Carl Peter Thunberg
> (1743-1828). 'Disa' is one of Nabokov's cryptic butterflies, hidden in a
> name. As to the etymology of the species' name, [Ernst Hofmann's butterfly
> atlas]gives "Disa, daughter of Pluto,"the god of Greek mythology who ruled
> the underworld, perhaps prompted by the fact that Pluto's other names are
> Hades and Dis. However, Pluto and his wife Persephone had no children; in
> fact, there seems to be no Disa in all of Greek and Roman mythology. It is
> more likely that the name is taken from local Swedish lore. Thunberg who
> bestowed Nordic names on several boreal butterfly species (embla, freija,
> frigga, lappona, norna)and who was Carl von Linne's successor as Professor
> of Natural Historyat the university of Uppsala used the name of an Uppsala
> celebrity, Disa the clever maiden who won her king's hand in marriage for
> giving him a piece of advice. Frej, a legendary Uppsala king, had
> regretfully decided to save his people from starvation during a famine by
> having the sick and the old killed. Disa (short for Desideria),the aughter
> of a town councillor in near-by Venngarn, suggested he rather send themoff
> to settle in the uninhabited north of Scandinavia [which was another but
> perhaps kinder way of putting them to death]. It was on her fate that the
> Protestant pamphletist and Uppsala professor of law, Johannes Messenius,
> wrote the first Swedish play (Disa, 1611). It was performed by Uppsala
> students during the market revels in that town.
> When exiled King Charles of Zembla visits his spurned wife Disa in her
> Villa (Para)Disa on Cap Turc, Fleur de Fyler, her lady in waiting, "turned
> to go with the Disa orchids"(p. 213). These are not just "Disa's orchids."
> They are the "flowers-of-the-gods" Charles had brought her (p. 206) in
> tribute to her name."Flower-of-the-Gods" is a striking orchid species,Disa
> uniflora (Bergius, 1767) syn grandiflora, from Cape Province, SouthAfrica.
> The flowers are large (c. 10 cm) and usually red, but there are alsoyellow
> and orange ones.The S and E African genus Disa has some 125 species and is
> very popular with orchid cultivators. The generic name has also puzzled
> orchid lovers. The explanation is that the Swedish botanist,Peter Jonas
> Bergius (1730-1790), had also studied with Linne at Uppsala and probably
> chose the generic name Disa for the same reason Thunberg did,in memory ofa
> legendary Uppsala queen.>
>
> Dieter E. Zimmer
> Berlin, October 29, 2003 -- 7:30pm
> mail@d-e-zimmer.de
>
>
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
to his book on VN's butterflies, he is the editor of the Rowohlt edition of
Nabokov Collected Works.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dieter E. Zimmer" <mail@d-e-zimmer.de>
To: "Don Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2003 10:47 PM
Subject: Disa - butterfly and orchid
>
> Berlin, Oct 29, 2003 -- 7:30am
> mail@d-e-zimmer.de
>
> I don't know whether Nabokovians are meant or entitled to join the Pynchon
> fray, but nabokv-l readers should know that there is a much more likely nd
> specific explanation of the name 'Disa' than the one offered in
> pynchon-l-digest V2 #3617. Here is a quote from my "Guide to Nabokov's
> Butterflies and Moths 2001", pp. 147-148:
>
> <In the index of Pale Fire, there is "Disa, Duchess of Payn, of Great
> Payn and Mone; my [Kinbote's] lovely, pale, melancholy Queen, haunting my
> dreams, and haunted by dreams of me." The name certainly is a reference to
> [the butterfly] Erebia disa (Thunberg, 1791);the next entry in the indexis
> "Embla," another northern Erebia [alpine or ringlet] very close to disa
> (Erebia embla) also named by Swedish entomologist Carl Peter Thunberg
> (1743-1828). 'Disa' is one of Nabokov's cryptic butterflies, hidden in a
> name. As to the etymology of the species' name, [Ernst Hofmann's butterfly
> atlas]gives "Disa, daughter of Pluto,"the god of Greek mythology who ruled
> the underworld, perhaps prompted by the fact that Pluto's other names are
> Hades and Dis. However, Pluto and his wife Persephone had no children; in
> fact, there seems to be no Disa in all of Greek and Roman mythology. It is
> more likely that the name is taken from local Swedish lore. Thunberg who
> bestowed Nordic names on several boreal butterfly species (embla, freija,
> frigga, lappona, norna)and who was Carl von Linne's successor as Professor
> of Natural Historyat the university of Uppsala used the name of an Uppsala
> celebrity, Disa the clever maiden who won her king's hand in marriage for
> giving him a piece of advice. Frej, a legendary Uppsala king, had
> regretfully decided to save his people from starvation during a famine by
> having the sick and the old killed. Disa (short for Desideria),the aughter
> of a town councillor in near-by Venngarn, suggested he rather send themoff
> to settle in the uninhabited north of Scandinavia [which was another but
> perhaps kinder way of putting them to death]. It was on her fate that the
> Protestant pamphletist and Uppsala professor of law, Johannes Messenius,
> wrote the first Swedish play (Disa, 1611). It was performed by Uppsala
> students during the market revels in that town.
> When exiled King Charles of Zembla visits his spurned wife Disa in her
> Villa (Para)Disa on Cap Turc, Fleur de Fyler, her lady in waiting, "turned
> to go with the Disa orchids"(p. 213). These are not just "Disa's orchids."
> They are the "flowers-of-the-gods" Charles had brought her (p. 206) in
> tribute to her name."Flower-of-the-Gods" is a striking orchid species,Disa
> uniflora (Bergius, 1767) syn grandiflora, from Cape Province, SouthAfrica.
> The flowers are large (c. 10 cm) and usually red, but there are alsoyellow
> and orange ones.The S and E African genus Disa has some 125 species and is
> very popular with orchid cultivators. The generic name has also puzzled
> orchid lovers. The explanation is that the Swedish botanist,Peter Jonas
> Bergius (1730-1790), had also studied with Linne at Uppsala and probably
> chose the generic name Disa for the same reason Thunberg did,in memory ofa
> legendary Uppsala queen.>
>
> Dieter E. Zimmer
> Berlin, October 29, 2003 -- 7:30pm
> mail@d-e-zimmer.de
>
>
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L