Dear List,
In a recent movie about royal impediments I came across King Edward's
reference to"kinging." I knew that, in Britain, kings reign over their
kingdoms, but do they also "king" them? The lords lord, rulers rule,
bosses boss...so ? A brief wiki-check reveals: (a) Kinging, also called
crowning, is a move in checkers where a piece reaches the final row and becomes
a king, similar to promotion in chess; (b) Kinging, a sexual practice; (c)
Kinging, abbreviation of drag kinging, the activity of a drag king."
How very confusing. We may verbalize elbow, eye, nose, knee,finger. We can
list, coin,ring, bottle, net...
Nabokov often makes reference to "lep". A fresh Wiki-help
for "lepping" (besides Riverdancing and horse show-jumping ) offered me the
"Literary usage of Lepping as found in modern and/or classical literature:"
1. Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes (1895) "lepping "
Lucubrations. THE season of the lepping lust is almost upon us; ... But cubbing
in September brings very little lepping in its train, ..." 2. Dictionary
of National Biography by LESLIE. STEPHEN (1895) "... and, secondly, to Mary,
widow of Henry Carey, styled Lord lepping- ton, first of the three illegitimate
daughters of Emmanuel Scrope, earl of Sunderland ..." 3. Publications by
English Dialect Society (1875)
"See lepping-STOCK. HERBY-PIE. See ARBY-PIE.
HIGH-GERANIUM. The hydrangea. HILF. The haft or handle of such tools as an axe,
a mattock, &c. ..." and from there onto a Lexic.us Definition of Lep (1.
strong imp. Leaped./ to leap [v LEPPED, LEPPING, LEPS] - See also: leap)
Brian Boyd mentions "Nabokov's lepping trips in adulthood" (B.Boyd, RY, 78),
but the best indication I discovered about Nabokov's "coin" came
from Maggie Gee, on the Daily Telegraph 2000 review Lepping around
on the hilltops* Any suggestions and explorations on Nabokov's
butterflying "leps" o'er rivers and streams?
"The great
Russian-American novelist's preferred word for butterfly-chasing was "lepping",
a high-speed blur of leaping and lepidoptera."
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* Nab-L Archives: Daily Telegraph (2000)Maggie Gee: "The great
Russian-American novelist's preferred word for butterfly-chasing was "lepping",
a high-speed blur of leaping and lepidoptera. Review of Brian
Boyd's and lepidopterist Robert Michael Pyle's book (they "have garnered
every sentence from Nabokov's novels, letters and poems that deals with
butterflies, along withexamples of his scientific writings.)Nabokov's
Butterflies, ed by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael Pyle, tr by Dmitri Nabokov,
Allen Lane The Penguin Press, GBP25, ISBN 0541557222