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Fwd: Re: caryatids and caryatics
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I haven't been following the recent Ada thread but
the mention of caryatids happened to catch my eye.
For the record:
(1) on the web page Jansy quotes, "caryatics" is
just a typo -- it should be "caryatids"
(2) "Caryatid" has nothing to do with Caria in
Anatolia or any queens it may have had. The "città
di Caria" mentioned in the Italian definition
refers to Caryae, a town in Laconia, a part of
mainland Greece. The traditional explanation is
that the term is derived from Artemis Caryatis, an
avatar of Artemis worshipped around Caryae. That
by the way is also the derivation given in
Webster's II.
Nabokov's "caryatics" is a witty portmanteau
construction. As Boyd points put, it is a meant to
sound like a medical term for the muscles or
tendons that come into play when Van stands on his
hands. But the image it conjures up -- of the
caryatid columns of the Erechtheum in Athens -- is
also very apposite, because these figures too
would need strong "caryatics" to hold up the roof
of the temple porch.
Hoping that PF screenplay turns up soon --
Mary
----- End forwarded message -----
the mention of caryatids happened to catch my eye.
For the record:
(1) on the web page Jansy quotes, "caryatics" is
just a typo -- it should be "caryatids"
(2) "Caryatid" has nothing to do with Caria in
Anatolia or any queens it may have had. The "città
di Caria" mentioned in the Italian definition
refers to Caryae, a town in Laconia, a part of
mainland Greece. The traditional explanation is
that the term is derived from Artemis Caryatis, an
avatar of Artemis worshipped around Caryae. That
by the way is also the derivation given in
Webster's II.
Nabokov's "caryatics" is a witty portmanteau
construction. As Boyd points put, it is a meant to
sound like a medical term for the muscles or
tendons that come into play when Van stands on his
hands. But the image it conjures up -- of the
caryatid columns of the Erechtheum in Athens -- is
also very apposite, because these figures too
would need strong "caryatics" to hold up the roof
of the temple porch.
Hoping that PF screenplay turns up soon --
Mary
----- End forwarded message -----