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Re: On symmetry and Kinbote and "farfalhantes"
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Carolyn Kunin observes that 'the references to "K" and "S" seem to me to be another clue to the relation between the two characters - - in both senses of the word. "K" and "S" share a third common character, "C." In Cyrillic the sound /s/ is represented by "C" and in Latin the sound /k/ is represented by "C". Isn't it interesting?' and Jerry Friedman answers: "Yes, it's interesting that the letter C can sound like both K and S (and it looks like, and is etymologically related to,G). But at that level you can konnekt everything with everything elce."
Several postings ago, on a distinct issue ( "Pnin"), Stan Kelly-Bootle noted that: "VN's private 'audition coloree' gives 'p' as 'the unripe apple.' (Speak Memory, p 35).
According to him "The Russian 'sh' is fluffy-gray ("as old as the rushes of the Nile!") Ou en sommes-nous? VN spells his 'rainbow' kzspygv which he says is 'hardly pronounceable' ."
Joining the Kinbotean party enriched with these connections between colors, sounds and letters, I'd like to add a curiosity.
In Portuguese we find a verb that describes the rushing noise of wings, leaves and silk that suggests to me a distant connection to "butterflies" ( "Farfalhar" in Portuguese and similar-sounding to "farfalle" in Italian, now applied both to bow-tie shaped pasta and to the insect!).
Unfortunately I could not trace the etymology of "farfalhar" to confirm its link with "farfalle".
It would have been amusing to translate: "o farfalhar das asas da borboleta" as "the butterfly-winged-rustle of butterfly wings".
Anyway, we may say "butterflying" when we describe a swarm of nymphets "fluttering around" when we say "borboleteando". Also "fluttery nymphets" could become "ninfetas borboleteantes"...
Jansy Mello
Jansy
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Several postings ago, on a distinct issue ( "Pnin"), Stan Kelly-Bootle noted that: "VN's private 'audition coloree' gives 'p' as 'the unripe apple.' (Speak Memory, p 35).
According to him "The Russian 'sh' is fluffy-gray ("as old as the rushes of the Nile!") Ou en sommes-nous? VN spells his 'rainbow' kzspygv which he says is 'hardly pronounceable' ."
Joining the Kinbotean party enriched with these connections between colors, sounds and letters, I'd like to add a curiosity.
In Portuguese we find a verb that describes the rushing noise of wings, leaves and silk that suggests to me a distant connection to "butterflies" ( "Farfalhar" in Portuguese and similar-sounding to "farfalle" in Italian, now applied both to bow-tie shaped pasta and to the insect!).
Unfortunately I could not trace the etymology of "farfalhar" to confirm its link with "farfalle".
It would have been amusing to translate: "o farfalhar das asas da borboleta" as "the butterfly-winged-rustle of butterfly wings".
Anyway, we may say "butterflying" when we describe a swarm of nymphets "fluttering around" when we say "borboleteando". Also "fluttery nymphets" could become "ninfetas borboleteantes"...
Jansy Mello
Jansy
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
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