Dear Jansy and the List,
The connection between berries, barin (Russian for "master") and Baer
(German for "bear") at first seemed far-fetched to me, but probably it is not!
Because all those words, and the word bor (Russian for "pinewood"), occur
in Eugene Onegine, Canto Three and Canto Five:
Three: XXX: 7-14
V sadu sluzhanki, na gryadakh,
Sbirali yagodu v kustakh
I khorom po nakazu peli.
(Nakaz, osnovannyi na tom,
Chtob barskoy yagody taikom
Usta lukavye ne eli
I pen'iem byli zanyaty:
Zateya sel'skoy ostroty!)
Girl servants, in the garden, on the beds,
were picking beries in the bushes
and singing by decree in chorus
(a decree based on that
in secret the seignoral berry
sly mouths wouldn't eat
and would be busy singing;
device of rural wit!)
You remember, of course, that this scene is travestied in the performance
that Demon and Prince N. see in 1.2 of ADA. Marina is "deflorated" by Demon
between the two chapters of the martyred novel (Chapter Three and
Four).
The bear (kosmatyi lakei, "a shaggy servant") appears in Tatiana's dream in
Canto Five that portends Onegin's duel with Lensky and Lensky's death. "Bor"
(pinewood), along with medved' (bear), are among the words that Tatiana
looks up in Martyn Zadeck, her book of dream-interpreting.
You remember that, in ADA, Aqua walks through a little pinewood
before she feasts on her "berries" and dies (1.3).
So it seems that I can congratulate you, Jansy, and myself, on another
discovery.
Alexey
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2005 9:03
PM
Subject: Fw: Burnberries: Ardis/Burn
& Bear/Russia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 8:54 PM
Subject: Burnberries: Ardis/Burn & Bear/Russia
Dear Don and List,
I don´t know if these links that take us from
"Burnberries" to "Russia/Ardis" are too far-fetched, but I´ll risk
it.
In Ada, ch.41 we find Trofim exclaiming " Barin,
a Barin " and our narrator pointedly translates "Barin" as "master" (
while at the same time making a quick reference to Blanche and
to Lucette, together with a warning about disaster and horror
caused by what might "seep through" leather or woolies).
In German, Bärin, means bear, the female
bear ( and bears, Urs are also connected to Lucette and, of
course, to Rus/ Russia ).
The German word for berries
( "yagodami" ) is " Beeren" and that could help us to
associate Bear/Bärin/Beeren/Berries.
Van writes one single line of poetry: " Ada, our
ardors and arbors" and, of course, we remember "Ardelia"
and "Ardis". Now, to burn, in latin, is
"ardere"...
Greetings,
Jansy