Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0023159, Wed, 1 Aug 2012 01:23:00 +0300

Subject
ululations
Date
Body
Although in her Russian translation of PF Vera Nabokov renders "theatrical ululations" as teatral'nye zavyvaniya, there is a semantically closer word: ulyulyukanie. It comes from ulyulyukat' (to halloo; to whoop, in mockery). According to Dahl, ulyulyukat' means "to hunt superior type of game (krasnyi* zver'): a fox, a wolf, a bear, to cry ulyulyu!" (One cries "atu!" when hunting a hare and "us'!" when hunting a hog.) Dahl also glosses ulyulya, dialectal word for sova ("owl") rhyming with pilyulya ("pill"). Strange enough, he does not mention Latin ulula deriving ulyulya from German Eule (with a question mark, though).

In Dahl's dictionary ulyulyukat' is preceded by ulyulyukivat', "to lull a child to sleep" (or "to death"). Cf. German einlullen.

There is ulyulyukanie in VN's Camera Obscura and Solus Rex. Here is a quote from the latter: Напротив, личность самоотверженного доктора не только не была оценена по достоинству, но возбуждала злорадное улюлюкание (к сожалению, подхваченное бульварной печатью), ибо его положение понималось народом как жалкая исполнительность продажного умника. (...the personality of sublime Dr. Onze not only failed to be recognized but provoked happy hoots of malice...)

*in modern Russian krasnyi means "red" but formerly meant "fair, beautiful"

Alexey Sklyarenko

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