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Re: TT persona : Hugh Person's name
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---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Sunday, July 25, 2004 3:59 PM -0400
From: Mary Bellino <iambe@rcn.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: TT persona
------------------
I haven't been following the TT discussion, but Jansy's
mention of Etruscans caught my eye, and I have something to add about the
name of TT's protagonist.
First, though -- on the etymology of the noun "persona" and whether it
is related to the Latin verb personare: the "o" is long in the noun and
short in the verb, so that is a weak argument against it. Persona has
long been thought to derive from the Etruscan word for mask, "phersu"
(which would make it one of the very few English words with an Etruscan
root). Now, what the Romans needed was a word to translate the Greek
prosopon, the mask worn by tragic actors. Prosopon literally means
"face," but the root is "ops," eye, and the Romans no doubt knew that,
so it is questionable whether they would choose a word that means "sound
through" to translate it. Thus the Etruscan "phersu" is actually the
more logical candidate; note that in ancient Greek, at least, "ph" was
not pronounced like "f" but more like "p" with a little extra breath.
The per + sonare derivation is however attested by Aulus Gellius, a
2nd-century miscellanist, though that is by no means conclusive. For one
thing, he calls it "witty," suggesting that it was not the traditional
etymology.
All of that is neither here nor there -- the important thing is what
freight Nabokov thought the word carried. And here I would point out a
passage in Lolita, where HH is ringing the doorbell of Lolita's Coalmont
home. "I pressed the bell button, it vibrated through my whole system.
_Personne. Je resonne. Repersonne_. From what depths this re-nonsense?"
(269 of AnnLo). Appel translates it as "Nobody. I re-rang the bell.
Re-nobody" -- and the word "re-nobody" occurs again when HH knocks at
Pavor manor. But in the context of the doorbell vibrating through HH's
system, I do think Nabokov is playing with the Latin elements of
personne/person in two ways: per can mean "through" and it can also mean
"thoroughly -- resoundingly, as it were -- so it works as a sort of
macaronic pun, and it shows, I think, that Nabokov had the idea of per +
sonare as part of his mental file card on "person." And then too of
course there is the French personne, which can mean either any person or
no person--or, as my dictionary puts it, "anyone, anybody (with vaguely
implied negation)." Sure sounds like Hugh to me.
Mary
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L
Date: Sunday, July 25, 2004 3:59 PM -0400
From: Mary Bellino <iambe@rcn.com>
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Subject: Re: TT persona
------------------
I haven't been following the TT discussion, but Jansy's
mention of Etruscans caught my eye, and I have something to add about the
name of TT's protagonist.
First, though -- on the etymology of the noun "persona" and whether it
is related to the Latin verb personare: the "o" is long in the noun and
short in the verb, so that is a weak argument against it. Persona has
long been thought to derive from the Etruscan word for mask, "phersu"
(which would make it one of the very few English words with an Etruscan
root). Now, what the Romans needed was a word to translate the Greek
prosopon, the mask worn by tragic actors. Prosopon literally means
"face," but the root is "ops," eye, and the Romans no doubt knew that,
so it is questionable whether they would choose a word that means "sound
through" to translate it. Thus the Etruscan "phersu" is actually the
more logical candidate; note that in ancient Greek, at least, "ph" was
not pronounced like "f" but more like "p" with a little extra breath.
The per + sonare derivation is however attested by Aulus Gellius, a
2nd-century miscellanist, though that is by no means conclusive. For one
thing, he calls it "witty," suggesting that it was not the traditional
etymology.
All of that is neither here nor there -- the important thing is what
freight Nabokov thought the word carried. And here I would point out a
passage in Lolita, where HH is ringing the doorbell of Lolita's Coalmont
home. "I pressed the bell button, it vibrated through my whole system.
_Personne. Je resonne. Repersonne_. From what depths this re-nonsense?"
(269 of AnnLo). Appel translates it as "Nobody. I re-rang the bell.
Re-nobody" -- and the word "re-nobody" occurs again when HH knocks at
Pavor manor. But in the context of the doorbell vibrating through HH's
system, I do think Nabokov is playing with the Latin elements of
personne/person in two ways: per can mean "through" and it can also mean
"thoroughly -- resoundingly, as it were -- so it works as a sort of
macaronic pun, and it shows, I think, that Nabokov had the idea of per +
sonare as part of his mental file card on "person." And then too of
course there is the French personne, which can mean either any person or
no person--or, as my dictionary puts it, "anyone, anybody (with vaguely
implied negation)." Sure sounds like Hugh to me.
Mary
---------- End Forwarded Message ----------
D. Barton Johnson
NABOKV-L