Subject
Fw: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word
choices
choices
From
Date
Body
EDNOTE. the nwesome erudtion of A. Bouazza--a Joycean Nabokovian from early
days...
----- Original Message -----
From: "A. Bouazza" <mushtary@yahoo.com>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approval (104
lines) ------------------
> VN uses the Latin "jugulum" for "throat pit" somewhere -my memory fails me
> at this moment-, perhaps in ADA. In his works one can trace a descriptive
> interest in that anatomical part, from descriptions to the exact latinate
> term (which is indicative of his search for the exact technical
> term -"ophryon" in Speak, Memory, p. 85, comes to mind). On a similar
level,
> there is the word "philtrum", which has gone unnoticed (perhaps Mr. Brian
Boyd
> has something to say about it in his accumulative annotations to ADA, but
> one has to be patient), on p. 415 of ADA (1st ed.): "Nikak-s net: no
lips,
> no philtrum, no nosetip, no swimming eye." The word is from the Greek
> "philtron", in its uncommon meaning of the "indentation in the middle of
the
> upper lip just below the nose"; this extremely rare word for something
quite
> familiar is in the OED. Coincidentally, in the late 1969 The Washington
Star
> expressed
dismay that there is still no satisfactory term in English to describe that
> indentation; the same holds for most Western languages, unlike Arabic
which
> has half a dozen synonyms for that anatomical feature.
>
> A. Bouazza.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 10:56 PM
> Subject: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word choices
>
>
> > EDNOTE: See bottom
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brian Howell" <pakmshlter@yahoo.com>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (39
> > lines) ------------------
> > > On a similar tack to the earlier posts regarding
> > > 'clathrate skirts' in Lolita, a little while back I
> > > was searching for a word for a story I was writing
> > > that meant the part in a woman's throat where a man's
> > > Adam's Apple is. I put out various queries for a word
> > > I thought I had come across somewhere that wasn't too
> > > technical. It was on the tip of my tongue though now I
> > > wonder if it was a phantom. All of the responses were
> > > very technical/medical (one I liked was delphian).
> > > Nabokov might have used that but it was too technical
> > > for the voice of my character (sorry for the pun).
> > >
> > > Then, by chance (I won't say pure chance because I
> > > don't know if chance can be truly pure if you are
> > > interested in words as a writer and you are reading
> > > Nabokov, a bit like picking up a loaded gun and
> > > thinking it can't go off), towards the end of _The
> > > Gift_ I came across the disarmingly simple 'throat
> > > pit', referring to Zina (p.329, Penguin 1981, trans.
> > > Michael Scammell with DN), as in 'Zina - her cheeks,
> > > her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > > clavicle'. At first I thought this was quite an ugly
> > > way to describe that part of the throat but it has
> > > grown on me. Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Brian Howell
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Japan
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. Brian's note prompted me to squander a pleasant hour looking
into
> > Zina's 'throat pit' and the issue of VN's comparatively straightforward
> > Russian lexicon vs his often arcane English vocabulary. For those who
> don't
> > know, English has a MUCH larger word stock than Russian. Below I give
the
> > parallel Russian (original) and the Scammel-Nabokov English phrases. In
> this
> > case, it seems that VN uses a simple but rare (in the sense of "throat
> pit")
> > Russian word DUSHKA in the phrase "dushka na shee." DUSHKA, usually
> meaning
> > "a dear, nice person" is etymologically linked to DUSHA in the sense of
> > "soul," or a la Gogol "a serf," and, more remotely, to the roots for
> > "breath" & "breathe." I do not find DUSHKA in the sense of "throat pit"
in
> > any recent Russian dictionary at hand but only in VN's beloved Dal'--a
> four
> > volume dictionary from the late XIXth century where it is defined as
"the
> > little pit in the throat" (yamochka v gorle). So far as I know, English
> > doesn't have a non-technical anatomical term for this area--although
> perhaps
> > one of NABOKV-L's MDs or anatomists knows of one. (If so, please
advise.)
> In
> > this case, VN seems, in the absence of an English equivalent, to have
> > provided a literal translation of Dal's Russian definition rather than
an
> > English technical term as was his wont.
> >
> >
> > 'Zina - her cheeks, her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > clavicle'
> >
> > Туман какой-то грусти обволок Зину - ее щеки, прищуренные глаза, душку
на
> > шее, косточку, - и этому как-то способствовал бледный дым ее папиросы.
>
>
days...
----- Original Message -----
From: "A. Bouazza" <mushtary@yahoo.com>
> ---------------- Message requiring your approval (104
lines) ------------------
> VN uses the Latin "jugulum" for "throat pit" somewhere -my memory fails me
> at this moment-, perhaps in ADA. In his works one can trace a descriptive
> interest in that anatomical part, from descriptions to the exact latinate
> term (which is indicative of his search for the exact technical
> term -"ophryon" in Speak, Memory, p. 85, comes to mind). On a similar
level,
> there is the word "philtrum", which has gone unnoticed (perhaps Mr. Brian
Boyd
> has something to say about it in his accumulative annotations to ADA, but
> one has to be patient), on p. 415 of ADA (1st ed.): "Nikak-s net: no
lips,
> no philtrum, no nosetip, no swimming eye." The word is from the Greek
> "philtron", in its uncommon meaning of the "indentation in the middle of
the
> upper lip just below the nose"; this extremely rare word for something
quite
> familiar is in the OED. Coincidentally, in the late 1969 The Washington
Star
> expressed
dismay that there is still no satisfactory term in English to describe that
> indentation; the same holds for most Western languages, unlike Arabic
which
> has half a dozen synonyms for that anatomical feature.
>
> A. Bouazza.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
> To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 10:56 PM
> Subject: Fw: 'throat pit' in The Gift and Nabokov's English word choices
>
>
> > EDNOTE: See bottom
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Brian Howell" <pakmshlter@yahoo.com>
> > >
> > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (39
> > lines) ------------------
> > > On a similar tack to the earlier posts regarding
> > > 'clathrate skirts' in Lolita, a little while back I
> > > was searching for a word for a story I was writing
> > > that meant the part in a woman's throat where a man's
> > > Adam's Apple is. I put out various queries for a word
> > > I thought I had come across somewhere that wasn't too
> > > technical. It was on the tip of my tongue though now I
> > > wonder if it was a phantom. All of the responses were
> > > very technical/medical (one I liked was delphian).
> > > Nabokov might have used that but it was too technical
> > > for the voice of my character (sorry for the pun).
> > >
> > > Then, by chance (I won't say pure chance because I
> > > don't know if chance can be truly pure if you are
> > > interested in words as a writer and you are reading
> > > Nabokov, a bit like picking up a loaded gun and
> > > thinking it can't go off), towards the end of _The
> > > Gift_ I came across the disarmingly simple 'throat
> > > pit', referring to Zina (p.329, Penguin 1981, trans.
> > > Michael Scammell with DN), as in 'Zina - her cheeks,
> > > her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > > clavicle'. At first I thought this was quite an ugly
> > > way to describe that part of the throat but it has
> > > grown on me. Any thoughts?
> > >
> > > Brian Howell
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Japan
> > >
> > >
> > > =====
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > EDNOTE. Brian's note prompted me to squander a pleasant hour looking
into
> > Zina's 'throat pit' and the issue of VN's comparatively straightforward
> > Russian lexicon vs his often arcane English vocabulary. For those who
> don't
> > know, English has a MUCH larger word stock than Russian. Below I give
the
> > parallel Russian (original) and the Scammel-Nabokov English phrases. In
> this
> > case, it seems that VN uses a simple but rare (in the sense of "throat
> pit")
> > Russian word DUSHKA in the phrase "dushka na shee." DUSHKA, usually
> meaning
> > "a dear, nice person" is etymologically linked to DUSHA in the sense of
> > "soul," or a la Gogol "a serf," and, more remotely, to the roots for
> > "breath" & "breathe." I do not find DUSHKA in the sense of "throat pit"
in
> > any recent Russian dictionary at hand but only in VN's beloved Dal'--a
> four
> > volume dictionary from the late XIXth century where it is defined as
"the
> > little pit in the throat" (yamochka v gorle). So far as I know, English
> > doesn't have a non-technical anatomical term for this area--although
> perhaps
> > one of NABOKV-L's MDs or anatomists knows of one. (If so, please
advise.)
> In
> > this case, VN seems, in the absence of an English equivalent, to have
> > provided a literal translation of Dal's Russian definition rather than
an
> > English technical term as was his wont.
> >
> >
> > 'Zina - her cheeks, her narrowed eyes, her throat pit, her fragile
> > clavicle'
> >
> > Туман какой-то грусти обволок Зину - ее щеки, прищуренные глаза, душку
на
> > шее, косточку, - и этому как-то способствовал бледный дым ее папиросы.
>
>