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).
.