Ada + Mortus = Adam + ortus = morda + usta =
dama + rot + us = drama + oust
Ada - Ada Bredow (Vadim's
first cousin in LATH); Ada Veen (the heroine
of Ada)
Mortus - Christopher Mortus, a
character in
The Gift (Fyodor's Zoilus)
Adam - the name of the first man; cf. Adam
Atropovich, a critic in LATH
ortus - Lat., sunrise; beginning;
birth
morda - snout, muzzle; mug
usta - lips; cf. Usta k ustam (Lips
to Lips, a story by VN making fun of the editors of Numbers;
Prime Numbers is a literary magazine mentioned in LATH)
dama - lady
rot - mouth; Germ., red
us - whisker; moustache hair
Alexey Sklyarenko