Dear M. Courturier,
Priscilla Meyers has done our linguistic homework for us. She has analyzed Zemblan into its Russian and Germanic roots in her book on Pale Fire primarily*, Find what the Sailor has Hidden.
On page 96 she says that Kinbote describes Judge Goldsworth's house as being of the wodnaggen type. Wod (any relation to woad I wonder) is an anglo-saxon word meaning mad or frenzied. Gnagan (ancestor to our verb to nag) means to gnaw or fret.
A very useful book, indeed.
Carolyn
*and secondarily on Lolita
From: "NABOKV-L, English" <nabokv-l@HOLYCROSS.EDU>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 7:49 PM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] QUERY: "Wodnaggen" in PF
Dear List,
Neither Zimmer nor Boyd offered an annotation for the word "wodnaggen"
in Pale Fire (note to lines 47-48). Has anybody come up with an explanation
that I have missed.
Thank you for your help.
Maurice Couturier
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Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
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