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Re: Powerful Kramler: Nabokov decoded ...
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In a message dated 14/01/2010 20:02:08 GMT Standard Time,
glipon@INNERLEA.COM writes:
(Perhaps belaboring the point, but)
I don't get an entry for "stange" meaning "perch" in
thefreedictionary.com, my first goto source for words, only a town in Norway. So I'm confused as
to what you mean.
Checked some German and French translation sites. Nothing.
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".
Perhaps VN thought the word sounded bright and ringing, suggesting "steel"
and "tang", and thus appropriate to the context.
"Stang" is a very near cognate of Swedish "stång", which means a "pole"
"staff" "spar" "rod" "bar" "stick". Perhaps particularly associated with
flag-staff. A lot of Zemblan is pidgin-Swedish/faux-Norse.
Charles HW
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