Matt wrote:Kinbote's
definition of "rote" is indeed in Webster's 2nd: "the
noise produced by the surf dashing upon the shore." Attribution
is given to James Russell Lowell. The Nares to whom Lowell refers is Robert Nares, who
in his Glossary says:"'The sea's rote,'
in England's Eliza, Mirr. for Magist., p. 837, must be a misprint for
'the sea's rore,' or roar.
JM: Matt, after
your rich explanation I was curious to check how translators of PF
dealt with the word "rote" ( I only have PF in Portuguese). Jorio
Dauster chose "Ressaca Noturna" and anyone who has lived close to the
sea immediately perceives not only its meaning, but suffers a physical
sensation easily associated with this almost
traumatic, redundant, oceanic upheaval...
( It was the billowy word chosen to
describe the eyes of Machado de Assis' most famous heroine, Capitu...)
I know that is it silly to
follow associations of words that bifurcate away, or to
revolving signifiers in various languages but, after I returned
to "ressaca", intent on finding out if my "Portuguese-English"
Webster's would throw me back into the word "rote", I reached another
"watery association" that surprised me.
I doubt that any etymologicl
exploration would confirm that middle-English "rote" would serve
to express its alteration in the Portuguese.
Here is what I found in the
E-P-E Webster's edition:
ressaca (f.) - a
rebounding billow; undertow; (colloq.) a hang-over. "(1) a small lake in winter; a puddle in the
process of drying up at the beginning of summer; (2) a small gulf."
(GBAT)
If, in Pale Fire, the meaning of a
word describing "a small lake in winter" had not the importance it
has, concerning Hazel's suicide, or if its link with "a puddle in
summer" didn't remind me of "Bend Sinister", I would have avoided
bringing up this rather flimsy and impossible trail. After all, GBAT means "Glossary of Brazilian-Amazonian"
terms...
This path, now an almost silent and
unrebounding one, is too distant from any linguistic incursion on the
part of Nabokov (except, perhaps, if it appeared in a book about
Brazilian butterflies... But I doubt it! )
PPS: Jorio
Dauster checked a French and a Spanish translation of "Pale Fire" for
the word "rote". The three choices were similar.
Night Rote: ressaca noturna
( Portuguese);
ressac nocturne ( French)
resaca nocturna ( Spanish)