Subject
Re: Pale Fire, balefire (fwd)
Date
Body
From: "Peter A. Kartsev" <petr@glas.apc.org>
Intrigued by RW's information, I looked up "bale" in Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (the most excitingly readable dictionary
in my possession). It lists the following "old Icelandic (another
Northern country - PK) proverb appearing in ... English writers": When
bale is highest, boot is nighest.
"Bale" here is an archaic word for "evil", while "boot" is the Middle
English "bote" (a familiar root, is it not?), which means "advantage,
profit, relief, remedy". (In Zemblan, though, "bote" seems to mean
"destroyer" - see commentary to line 894).
I am not prepared to speculate on the relevance of the above to "Pale
Fire", but I find this an interesting line of inquiry.
--
Peter A. Kartsev
Moscow, Russia
Phone: (095) 471-5457
E-mail: petr@glas.apc.org
En cada instante puede revelarte su amor Helena de Troya. -- JLB
Intrigued by RW's information, I looked up "bale" in Brewer's
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (the most excitingly readable dictionary
in my possession). It lists the following "old Icelandic (another
Northern country - PK) proverb appearing in ... English writers": When
bale is highest, boot is nighest.
"Bale" here is an archaic word for "evil", while "boot" is the Middle
English "bote" (a familiar root, is it not?), which means "advantage,
profit, relief, remedy". (In Zemblan, though, "bote" seems to mean
"destroyer" - see commentary to line 894).
I am not prepared to speculate on the relevance of the above to "Pale
Fire", but I find this an interesting line of inquiry.
--
Peter A. Kartsev
Moscow, Russia
Phone: (095) 471-5457
E-mail: petr@glas.apc.org
En cada instante puede revelarte su amor Helena de Troya. -- JLB