Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0017390, Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:44:49 -0500

Subject
The singing gives birth to light
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Following Geroge Shimanovich's comment -

yes, Lermontov could not find right grammar for "fire" to fit it in Russian line with "light", but he fit it anyway bending grammar - he was clear though that fire and light are different things.
Our physics explains and relates them and sheds more light on the issue to keep fire going, but it is probably important that VN's novel is NOT called "Pale Light"...

I wonder, are there cultures which do NOT distinguish OGON' or PLAMYA (fire) from SVET (light)?
Are there cultures which have different terms for celestial lights than earthly ones (rather than just sunlight, starlight, moonlight etc)? Fire is source of light, not the otehr way round, but why we refer to sunlight - not sunfire?

Still brimming with intellectual-emotional-filre-light charge from this week's Stephen-Blackwell's/Brian-Boyd's/et al.'s science/literature/everything hyperwonderful symposium at Knoxville, TN,

with great thanks to Stephen-Blackwell for organizing this highly Ionian event,

Victor Fet

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