Stan K-Bootle [Oct.4, 2011] "..
.a semantic spread
...can impact different readers according to their linguistic
backgrounds...English is particularly rich in offering ways of nouning
adjectives and other non-noun categories. Our eight parts of speech can be
juggled in wondrous ways, witness the verb to noun! VN had a wide choice going
from adjective (sweet=dulce) to noun (sweetness-dulc????). Any of –dom, -ness,
-ity, -ment, -ence, -ance, -hood, -itude, etc., readily work semantically,
however unfamiliar and ugly some of these suffixed nouns may strike the
unforgiving prescriptionist. It’s largely a quirk of fate that certain suffix
combinations catch on, while others fade and die."
JM:
Rereading old VN-L postings
and a piece by Martin Amis ( Vladimir Nabokov Centennial | Martin Amis on
Lolita www.randomhouse.com/.../nabokov/amis.html ) I felt once
again Lolita's dolorous impact on my every sense.
Several long
forgotten purple passages were highlighted by Amis in
hellish isolation, and raised anew issues
on cruelty and the tyranny on souls.
It was when I came across HH's
reference to "the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights" and
puzzled about the precision of HH's choice of "caloricity."* in his
transposition from adjective to noun.
Perhaps HH's lubricious heat sounds correct in
French? "à l'exquise caloricité de voluptés inattendues " is
how Maurice Couturier translates this sentence.
In Portuguese the noun remained unaltered "ao suave calor de
inesperadas delícias - Venus febriculosa - "(Jorio
Dauster)
...................................................................................................................................................
* Caloricity - the Free Merriam-Webster: physiological ability to
develop and maintain bodily heat . Origin of CALORICITY. F caloricité, fr. L
calor heat + F -icité (fr. L -icus-ic + F ...
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caloricity