Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0019098, Sat, 16 Jan 2010 08:50:12 +1300

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Re: Fw: [NABOKV-L] Powerful Kramler: Nabokov decoded ...
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Sorry to be a party-pooper, but we know what Nabokov's preferred English dictionary was, so it seems pointless to decide that this or that word he has used is a coinage, when it's in Webster's Second.

There, there are 5 different entries for "stang," and the first sense of the first entry is "A pole, rail, or beam."

"Larvarium" it defines as "A box or cage for the rearing of insect larvae."

As far as I know it is still possible to obtain old copies of Webster's Second International Unabridged at ridiculously low prices from Merriam-Webster.

Brian Boyd


On 15/01/2010, at 9:20 AM, jansymello wrote:

Gary Lipon to jansymello [I mean, the substantive "Stange" meaning "perch,"] I don't get an entry for "stange" meaning "perch" in thefreedictionary.com<http://thefreedictionary.com>, my first goto source for words, only a town in Norway. So I'm confused as to what you mean...The peculiar thing is that "rail" and "stang" are both monosyllabic and thus work equally well in terms of prosody.Surely VN would have considered a common word like "rail"; thus must of really intended "stang"...

JM: I originally checked in the Oxford Duden Dictionary (German), but on-line there is Stange, indicating perch, stick,rail...:
Stange Stange f , -, -n
a (=langer, runder Stab) pole
(=Querstab) bar
(=Ballettstange) barre
(=Kleiderstange, Teppichstange) rail
(=Gardinenstange, Leiste für Treppenläufer) rod
(=Vogelstange) perch
(=Hühnerstange) perch, roost
(=Gebissstange) bit, (Hunt) (=Schwanz) brush
(=Geweihteil) branch (of antlers) (fig) (=dünner Mensch) beanpole inf
b (=länglicher Gegenstand) stick
eine Stange Zigaretten a carton of 200 cigarettes
c (=zylinderförmiges Glas) tall glass
d (Redewendungen) ein Anzug von der Stange a suit off the peg (Brit) or rack (US)
von der Stange kaufen to buy off the peg (Brit) or rack (US)
jdn bei der Stange halten inf to keep or hold sb
bei der Stange bleiben inf to stick at it inf
jdm die Stange halten inf to stick up for sb inf , to stand up for sb
eine (schöne or ganze) Stange Geld inf a tidy sum inf

Translation Stange in the German-English Collins dictionary<http://dictionary.reverso.net/german-english/Stange>
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