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To Alexey's notes:
Luxemburg and Ilyin commented on Amphitheatricus / Amfiteatrov
connection in their commentary to Pale Fire translation.
A Russian spelling, however, does not reveal a subtle orthographic pun
on "ф" and "т" when Amfiteatrov's surname (Амфитеатров) is
back-transliterated to a "correct latinized Greek" spelling with "ph"
and "th",
In fact, Amfiteatrov's name was actually spelled "Amphitheatrov" (and
even Amphitheatroff) in emigre French / Latinized Greek version.
The Latin dictionary says:
amphĭthĕātrĭcus , a, um, adj. id., i.q. amphitheatralis: charta,
I. made near the amphitheatre, of little value, Plin. 13, 12, 23, § 75:
“spectaculum,” Symm. Ep. 4, 8.
I wonder if VN knew and intended the second meaning, "of little value".
If yes, it is very well hidden. Note that it was used by a fellow
naturalist, Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History.
Amfiteatrov, by the way, is a very rare Russian name; but it belongs to
an incredible multitude (many hundreds) of completely invented,
so-called seminary (seminarist) family names, assigned by Church
officials to priests since 18th century (sort of like fancy Jewish
names were invented by German census officials a century later).
Most of artificial seminarist names were derived from religious
holidays ( Voznesensky, "of Ascention"; Voskresensky, "of
Resurrection"), specific saints (Annensky), even icons (Derzhavin,
Dostoyevsky) but some were based on secular Greek/Latin-based words --
or even names of fruit (Abrikosov, cf. Bulgakov's Persikov), gems such
as Ametistov (see Bulgakov's Zoikina kvartira), or, indeed, PF's
Izumrudov (a real seminarist name!!). Seminarist names could be, and
often were, rendered in Greek and Latin fashion (Albov, Giliarovsky,
Minorsky, Urbansky, Formozov..).
On Uranograd:
While technically "amphi" in "amphitheatre" means "around the theatre",
in biology, "amphi" usually has another meaning -- "on both sides", of
being between two worlds (e.g. amphibian). Amphisexual is a rare
synonym of bisexual.
Needless to say, Amfiteatrov's Uranus had no atomic meaning (he died in
1938) but by the time of Pale Fire, "Uranograd" became also a full
synonym of "Atomsk..."
Victor Fet