Subject
Re: Parluggian Owl (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR'S NOTE. I had mentioned to Robert Cook <rcook@rhi.hi.is> who is a
Nordic philologist that it was odd that an English-language bird book
would give "parluggla" as the Swedish common name when that name,
according to his earlier comment, did not occur in the multi-volume Swedish
dictionary. I speculated that perhaps it (like Webster's III) did not
list "proper" names." His suggestion that the Latin name (unmentioned in
ADA's text) may be relevant is worth pursuing. VN plays a game with an
unstated Latin plant name in the novel's first chapter. NB the "Bearfoot"
business.Can a Latinist out there tell us precisely what "Aegolius
funereus" means?
-------------------------------------------------------
From Robert Cook:
The big Swedish dictionary does have bird names, etc.,
but no parluggla -
nor does the fairly full one-volume standard, Illustrerad svensk ordbog
(Illustrated Swedish Dictionary). Of course, the spelling in Ada is
"Parluggian", and VN may not even have known of the Swedish form we were
told about the other day (Parluggla), from the Oxford bird handbook of
1985.
Perhaps the Latin name, Aegolius funereus, has connotations. Or did VN
understand the word as a Swedish compound of the elements "speak" and
"owl", and deliberately place a stuffed (i.e. non-speaking) Parluggian
(i.e. speaking) owl in the Gun Pavilion, emphasizing by oxymoron the
secrecy which Van and Ada enjoyed there?
Nordic philologist that it was odd that an English-language bird book
would give "parluggla" as the Swedish common name when that name,
according to his earlier comment, did not occur in the multi-volume Swedish
dictionary. I speculated that perhaps it (like Webster's III) did not
list "proper" names." His suggestion that the Latin name (unmentioned in
ADA's text) may be relevant is worth pursuing. VN plays a game with an
unstated Latin plant name in the novel's first chapter. NB the "Bearfoot"
business.Can a Latinist out there tell us precisely what "Aegolius
funereus" means?
-------------------------------------------------------
From Robert Cook:
The big Swedish dictionary does have bird names, etc.,
but no parluggla -
nor does the fairly full one-volume standard, Illustrerad svensk ordbog
(Illustrated Swedish Dictionary). Of course, the spelling in Ada is
"Parluggian", and VN may not even have known of the Swedish form we were
told about the other day (Parluggla), from the Oxford bird handbook of
1985.
Perhaps the Latin name, Aegolius funereus, has connotations. Or did VN
understand the word as a Swedish compound of the elements "speak" and
"owl", and deliberately place a stuffed (i.e. non-speaking) Parluggian
(i.e. speaking) owl in the Gun Pavilion, emphasizing by oxymoron the
secrecy which Van and Ada enjoyed there?