Thank you for that reference. Do
you have any idea where Nabokov might have come across this word? I was able to
find references to it on the web, but of course that didn't exist in VN's day. I
would think it unlikely that he would have simply found it in Lewis and
Short, even assuming that he had that dictionary. It seems more likely that he
read it somewhere. Where? In Ovid perhaps? Is there any English usage prior to
Pale Fire?
Carolyn Kunin
p.s. I have checked the local
libraries and non has a copy of Lewis and Short. Could you post the full
citation?