Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0020885, Sun, 17 Oct 2010 13:08:07 +0400

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Vair and siz\\udcefy, columbine,\n sha de: what is the shade of Gradus greyness?
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Dear Jansy,

In Russian we call gray eyes serye glaza. The epithet sizyi (blue-gray, dove-colored) is hardly ever used to describe the eye iris (only the unshaven cheeks can be sizye). I always imagined Lolita's eyes as dymchato-serye (hazy-gray). See also A. Dolinin's "A Note on the Last Name of Dolores Haze alias Lolita" in The Nabokovian #50.

Cinderella's Russian name is Zolushka (from zola, ashes, plus the diminutive suffix). Btw., as a child I was sure it came from zoloto (gold).

Yes, Gradus is a jolly Naburlesque name. The Russian noun gradus has more meanings than its English homograph and is even used idiomatically. Btw., gradusnik is Russian for "thermometer".

Speaking of proper names, there is no "Prof. Lapin" in ADA. There are Dr Lapiner and Professor Lagosse.

Alexey Sklyarenko

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