Subject
"cerevis" in KQK (fwd)
Date
Body
NABOKV-L thanks <didier.machu@univ-pau.fr> for:
Indeed "cerevis" derives from the latin word for beer (vevisia or
cervisia:
cf French cervoise, Spanish cerveza, ...) and, as far as I know, it is the
name of the small peakless cap formerly worn by German students in
beer-drinking societies but I suspect Nabokov used the word because it
sounds like cervix (nape) and as such is darkly suggestive on account of
the decapitation theme which is very much present in the book and has
ghastly sexual undertones.
Indeed "cerevis" derives from the latin word for beer (vevisia or
cervisia:
cf French cervoise, Spanish cerveza, ...) and, as far as I know, it is the
name of the small peakless cap formerly worn by German students in
beer-drinking societies but I suspect Nabokov used the word because it
sounds like cervix (nape) and as such is darkly suggestive on account of
the decapitation theme which is very much present in the book and has
ghastly sexual undertones.