My own idle browsing for ‘orbicle of jasp’ (which always struck me as VN portraying Shade as the most jarring un-poet!) found Vladimir Mylnikov’s essay A and Z of Zembla, at
http://pmeyer.web.wesleyan.edu/nabokov/alphabet.html
My apologies to those already familiar with Mylnikov’s thesis, but it was new to me, and may help resolve Jansy Mello’s queries. Or not, as they say.
Briefly: replacing ‘Zembla, a distant northern land’ (uniquely lacking both page and q.v. cross-references) as the final English Pale Fire index item, we find Iacheika Iashmy (alt. Transliteration Yacheika Yashmy) in the Russian translation (by Véra Nabokov, but one wonders if hubby provided earlier assistance?). Literally, Iacheika Iashmy means ‘cell jasper’ (where ‘cell’ can be political or biological, or even military: foxhole/slit-trench — and ‘jasper’ is the broad range of minerals-- Alexsey’s help invited). The same term translates Shade use of ‘orbical of jasp’ in the Cantos.
Further, the letter Ia (Yah) is the lexicographically LAST letter in Russian, matching the English Z and Greek Omega, concepts which inspire Mylnikov’s alphabetic ranges [a-z/a-yah/alpha-omega] and interpretations:
One more argument supporting the suggestion that semantic meaning of the word Zembla must include the idea of the alphabet comes from the Russian version of the book. The last item in the Index appeared as " iacheika iashmy" - the words which should correspond to Zembla [the last item in the English version].Indeed, they perfectly do, despite that their meaning is totally different from Zembla. But both words begin and end with the last and the first letters of the Russian alphabet -IA and A , and from the point of the form they are absolutely identical with the word Zembla. In the English version " iacheika iashmy" appears as "an orbical of jasp" though not in the Index but in the poem, when the poet is meditating about Terra the Fair. This transplantation took place because of the discrepancy between Latin and Cyrillic alphabets and the translator , to a certain extent, had to sacrifice the meaning to the form. Actually, we do not know for certain that the poet , when he is talking about Terra the Fair , really means or hints to Zembla. But again ,in terms of the form accordance , the words " iacheika iashmy" and Zembla are utterly identical
Stan Kelly-Bootle
On 23/07/2011 16:13, "jansymello" <jansy@AETERN.US> wrote:
Changing stones, I remained intrigued by John Shade's lines describing Terra, the fair as an "orbicle of jasp." I thought that he would be describing Terra as "reddish" but a more careful consultation of wikipedia showed me that the colors of jasper*, although predominantly red, could also be yellow or with greenish stripes. Besides, there was a link to an orbicular kind of jasper, with interesting ramifications (oregonite could indicate Oregon with various other place-names in California and Nebraska - for those who are interested in placing New Wye, with the added information of its being located in the east of the US in the Appalachian region, at the same latitude of Italian Palermo, I think).
However, Shade's "Terra" seems to correspond to some "otherwordly"space, not to the Earth (or Terra).
I'll quote Don B. Johnson : "Make of it what you will."
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Jasper, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Jasper, a form of chalcedony,is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and at one time for snuff boxes...Jasper is basically chert which owes its red color to iron inclusions... The jasper is, along with Heliotrope (bloodstone), one of the traditional birthstones for March. It's also a stone in the Jewish High Priest'sbreastplate, described in Exodus 28.
Etymology and history: The name means "spotted or speckled stone", and is derived via Old French jaspre (variant of Anglo-Norman jaspe) and Latin iaspidem (nom. iaspis)) from Greek ἴασπις iaspis, (feminine noun)from a Semitic language (cf. Hebrew יושפה yushphah, Akkadian yashupu), ultimately from Persian یشپyašp.
Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th-5th millennium BC.Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin.On Minoan Crete within present day Greece jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC based upon archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos.
Types: Jasper is an opaque rock of virtually any color stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash. Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica rich sediment or volcanic ash. Hydrothermal circulation is generally thought to be required in the formation of jasper.[citation needed]. The classification and naming of jasper presents a challenge. Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains, many are fanciful such as "Forest Fire" or "Rainbow", while others are descriptive such as "Autumn", "Porcelain" or "Dalmatian". A few are designated by the country of origin such as a Brown Egyptian or Red African leaving tremendous latitude as to what is called what. Picture jaspers exhibit combinations of patterns (such as banding from flow or depositional patterns (from water or wind, dendritic or color variations) resulting in what appear to be scenes or images, on a cut section. Diffusion from a center produces a distinctive orbicular appearance, i.e., Leopard Skin Jasper, or linear banding from a fracture as seen in Leisegang Jasper. Healed, fragmented rock produces brecciated (broken) jasper. Examples of this can be seen at Llanddwyn Island in Wales."
Orbicular jasper from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Orbicular jasper from Madagascar Orbicular jasper is a variety of jasper which contains variably-colored orbs or spherical inclusions or zones. In highly silicified rhyolite ortuff, quartz and feldspar crystallize in radial aggregates of needle-like crystals which provide the basis or seed for the orbicular structure seen in this kind of jasper. The material is quite attractive when polished and is used as an ornamental stone or gemstone.Various local or commercial names have been used for the material, such as kinradite, oregonite, owyhee jasper, ocean jasper and poppy-patterned jasper, depending on the source. Poppy-patterned jasper or poppy jasper is the varietal name for material from Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County, California. The trade name ocean jasper is used for a variety found along the intertidal shores of northeastMadagascar. In Nebraska orbicular jasper is found in altered rhyolite beds noted for a variety of jaspers and related agates."