Subject
Re: Idle note on Sebastian (Knight)
From
Date
Body
Grigori: the deeper linguistic point is whether hard-b and soft-b are
separate phonemes in Russian! The b-sound is simply influenced by the
following vowel (hard a or soft yah). (As indeed is the s before the soft
e!) The Russian syllables s’eb and s’eb’ are “semantically” identical. Don’s
interesting connection between seb’ya and Sebastian, whether etymologically
sound [sic] or not, cannot be faulted on the grounds of consonantal
mutation.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 23/05/2010 11:47, "Grigori Utgof" <utgof@TLU.EE> wrote:
> Dear Don,
>
> Your explanation is great, but there's always be a matter of palatalization:
> the reflexive pronoun "себя" is pronounced with the soft [б'] (like in the
> Russian "ребята"), while the word "Sebastian" has the hard [б] in it (like in
> the Russian "башня"); see also: Русская грамматика. М., 1980. T. 1. C. 35-40.
>
> All the best,
>
> Grigori
>
> On May 22, 2010, at 9:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
>
>> Food for (s)peculation.
>>
>> "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither
>> of us knows"
>>
>> None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
>> seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle
>> moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the
>> Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship
>> between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if
>> this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
>>
>> Tennis, anyone?
>>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
separate phonemes in Russian! The b-sound is simply influenced by the
following vowel (hard a or soft yah). (As indeed is the s before the soft
e!) The Russian syllables s’eb and s’eb’ are “semantically” identical. Don’s
interesting connection between seb’ya and Sebastian, whether etymologically
sound [sic] or not, cannot be faulted on the grounds of consonantal
mutation.
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 23/05/2010 11:47, "Grigori Utgof" <utgof@TLU.EE> wrote:
> Dear Don,
>
> Your explanation is great, but there's always be a matter of palatalization:
> the reflexive pronoun "себя" is pronounced with the soft [б'] (like in the
> Russian "ребята"), while the word "Sebastian" has the hard [б] in it (like in
> the Russian "башня"); see also: Русская грамматика. М., 1980. T. 1. C. 35-40.
>
> All the best,
>
> Grigori
>
> On May 22, 2010, at 9:36 PM, Don Johnson wrote:
>
>> Food for (s)peculation.
>>
>> "I am Sebastian, or Sebastian is I, or perhaps we are both someone neither
>> of us knows"
>>
>> None of the historical persons or places evoked by the name
>> seem to be obviously connected to VN's novel (see www below). In an idle
>> moment it ocurred to me that the first syllable of the name echoes the
>> Russian pronoun SEBYA meaning "one's self ." Given the tangled relationship
>> between the narrating half -brother and his brother Sebastain, I wonder if
>> this pseudo-etymology sheds any light on the novel.
>>
>> Tennis, anyone?
>>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/