Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014212, Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:46:50 -0500

Subject
Re: "C" "K" "S" in PF solution; Karl and Charles
Date
Body
and therefeore, K=C=Ch [via Italian] = Sh [sound of French "ch" in
English transcription] -- a shortcut from Kinbote via Charles to Shade.

This is Lewis Carroll's (=Carolus Ludovicus) word golf expanded to
characters/sounds.

KARL and CHARLES

Note that in Russian tradition, the royal name Carolus, Charles or
Carlos (English, French, or Spanish - does not matter) is always
rendered by Germanic "Karl" with hard K, not Ch or Sh:
Prince Charles, if crowned under this name, in Russian will be " Karl
III ".
Only "Karl Veliky" is also called by his French version, " Sharleman' "

Kinbote in the US is Charles or even Charley with Ch, but "Charles the
Beloved of Zembla in Russian must be Karl with K.
Russian translations of PF correctly make it very clear.

So in Russian (and Zemblan??), surname Kinbote and "Charles the Beloved"
(but not Charles Kinbote!) start with the same sound/letter K.

I assume somebody commented before on this fact?

This K/Ch is the old tradition, and this of course would be well
envisioned by VN, although this could not be "revealed" in English text.


There is also strangely PF-relevant (and Zemblan-sounding) Russian
tongtwister: "Karl u Klary ukral korally" (Karl stole Klara's
corals)...crown jewels?

Victor Fet




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