Subject
Fw: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word
choices
choices
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "alex" <sklyarenko@users.mns.ru>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (93
lines) ------------------
> I'm sorry to say that "dushka," in the sense "a throat pit," has nothing
to
> do with dushka, "a dear, nice person" or any other word etymologically
> linked to dusha (soul). It is either a corruption of duzhka, a word with
> many meanings, and, among them, "a clavicle," or, even more likely, it
> denotes specifically a little pit on a woman's throat because of women's
> habit to touch with perfume ("dukhi" or "dushki" in Russian; the verb
would
> be "dushit'sya") those perfect spots of their body.
> So, Rushian can be richer sometimes than English.
>
> Alexey
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 12:56 AM
> Subject: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word choices
>
>
> > EDNOTE: See bottom
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brian Howell" <pakmshlter@yahoo.com>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (39
> > lines) ------------------
> > > On a similar tack to the earlier posts regarding
> > > 'clathrate skirts' in Lolita, a little while back I
> > > was searching for a word for a story I was writing
> > > that meant the part in a woman's throat where a man's
> > > Adam's Apple is. I put out various queries for a word
> > > I thought I had come across somewhere that wasn't too
> > > technical. It was on the tip of my tongue though now I
> > > wonder if it was a phantom. All of the responses were
> > > very technical/medical (one I liked was delphian).
> > > Nabokov might have used that but it was too technical
> > > for the voice of my character (sorry for the pun).
> > >
> > > Then, by chance (I won't say pure chance because I
> > > don't know if chance can be truly pure if you are
> > > interested in words as a writer and you are reading
> > > Nabokov, a bit like picking up a loaded gun and
> > > thinking it can't go off), towards the end of _The
> > > Gift_ I came across the disarmingly simple 'throat
> > > pit', referring to Zina (p.329, Penguin 1981, trans.
> > > Michael Scammell with DN), as in 'Zina - her cheeks,
> > > her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > > clavicle'. At first I thought this was quite an ugly
> > > way to describe that part of the throat but it has
> > > grown on me. Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Brian Howell
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Japan
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. Brian's note prompted me to squander a pleasant hour looking
into
> > Zina's 'throat pit' and the issue of VN's comparatively straightforward
> > Russian lexicon vs his often arcane English vocabulary. For those who
> don't
> > know, English has a MUCH larger word stock than Russian. Below I give
the
> > parallel Russian (original) and the Scammel-Nabokov English phrases. In
> this
> > case, it seems that VN uses a simple but rare (in the sense of "throat
> pit")
> > Russian word DUSHKA in the phrase "dushka na shee." DUSHKA, usually
> meaning
> > "a dear, nice person" is etymologically linked to DUSHA in the sense of
> > "soul," or a la Gogol "a serf," and, more remotely, to the roots for
> > "breath" & "breathe." I do not find DUSHKA in the sense of "throat pit"
in
> > any recent Russian dictionary at hand but only in VN's beloved Dal'--a
> four
> > volume dictionary from the late XIXth century where it is defined as
"the
> > little pit in the throat" (yamochka v gorle). So far as I know, English
> > doesn't have a non-technical anatomical term for this area--although
> perhaps
> > one of NABOKV-L's MDs or anatomists knows of one. (If so, please
advise.)
> In
> > this case, VN seems, in the absence of an English equivalent, to have
> > provided a literal translation of Dal's Russian definition rather than
an
> > English technical term as was his wont.
> >
> >
> > 'Zina - her cheeks, her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > clavicle'
> >
> > Туман какой-то грусти обволок Зину - ее щеки, прищуренные глаза, душку
на
> > шее, косточку, - и этому как-то способствовал бледный дым ее папиросы.
>
From: "alex" <sklyarenko@users.mns.ru>
>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (93
lines) ------------------
> I'm sorry to say that "dushka," in the sense "a throat pit," has nothing
to
> do with dushka, "a dear, nice person" or any other word etymologically
> linked to dusha (soul). It is either a corruption of duzhka, a word with
> many meanings, and, among them, "a clavicle," or, even more likely, it
> denotes specifically a little pit on a woman's throat because of women's
> habit to touch with perfume ("dukhi" or "dushki" in Russian; the verb
would
> be "dushit'sya") those perfect spots of their body.
> So, Rushian can be richer sometimes than English.
>
> Alexey
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 12:56 AM
> Subject: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word choices
>
>
> > EDNOTE: See bottom
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brian Howell" <pakmshlter@yahoo.com>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (39
> > lines) ------------------
> > > On a similar tack to the earlier posts regarding
> > > 'clathrate skirts' in Lolita, a little while back I
> > > was searching for a word for a story I was writing
> > > that meant the part in a woman's throat where a man's
> > > Adam's Apple is. I put out various queries for a word
> > > I thought I had come across somewhere that wasn't too
> > > technical. It was on the tip of my tongue though now I
> > > wonder if it was a phantom. All of the responses were
> > > very technical/medical (one I liked was delphian).
> > > Nabokov might have used that but it was too technical
> > > for the voice of my character (sorry for the pun).
> > >
> > > Then, by chance (I won't say pure chance because I
> > > don't know if chance can be truly pure if you are
> > > interested in words as a writer and you are reading
> > > Nabokov, a bit like picking up a loaded gun and
> > > thinking it can't go off), towards the end of _The
> > > Gift_ I came across the disarmingly simple 'throat
> > > pit', referring to Zina (p.329, Penguin 1981, trans.
> > > Michael Scammell with DN), as in 'Zina - her cheeks,
> > > her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > > clavicle'. At first I thought this was quite an ugly
> > > way to describe that part of the throat but it has
> > > grown on me. Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Brian Howell
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Japan
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. Brian's note prompted me to squander a pleasant hour looking
into
> > Zina's 'throat pit' and the issue of VN's comparatively straightforward
> > Russian lexicon vs his often arcane English vocabulary. For those who
> don't
> > know, English has a MUCH larger word stock than Russian. Below I give
the
> > parallel Russian (original) and the Scammel-Nabokov English phrases. In
> this
> > case, it seems that VN uses a simple but rare (in the sense of "throat
> pit")
> > Russian word DUSHKA in the phrase "dushka na shee." DUSHKA, usually
> meaning
> > "a dear, nice person" is etymologically linked to DUSHA in the sense of
> > "soul," or a la Gogol "a serf," and, more remotely, to the roots for
> > "breath" & "breathe." I do not find DUSHKA in the sense of "throat pit"
in
> > any recent Russian dictionary at hand but only in VN's beloved Dal'--a
> four
> > volume dictionary from the late XIXth century where it is defined as
"the
> > little pit in the throat" (yamochka v gorle). So far as I know, English
> > doesn't have a non-technical anatomical term for this area--although
> perhaps
> > one of NABOKV-L's MDs or anatomists knows of one. (If so, please
advise.)
> In
> > this case, VN seems, in the absence of an English equivalent, to have
> > provided a literal translation of Dal's Russian definition rather than
an
> > English technical term as was his wont.
> >
> >
> > 'Zina - her cheeks, her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > clavicle'
> >
> > Туман какой-то грусти обволок Зину - ее щеки, прищуренные глаза, душку
на
> > шее, косточку, - и этому как-то способствовал бледный дым ее папиросы.
>