Dear Don
and list,
I would
like to ask help in order to understand VN´s meaning in a particular sentence (
related to Dorothy´s, née Vinelander, unceasing chatter "lapping at Van´s
rock" ).
I had
already tried to investigate its various contrasting uses (lapse,
relapse,colapse, even lap and laprobe ) to get the feeling for this special
verb as employed by VN, but found no way to translate it to
Portuguese.
After I
mailed the lines dealing with Aqua´s instructions in "Russian-lapped
German", I decided to take up the matter again.
Here are
some examples:
1.
"garrulously pour hateful instructions in Russian-lapped German into her hateful
bidet, she decided to stop turning on tap water altogether".
3. "he spoke
little, especially since his sister’s sonorous soliloquy (lapping at Van’s rock)
mesmerized and childishly engrossed him".
As a verb we find: "to overtake by one or more laps; coil, fold or
wrap round; enfold caressingly or encircle protectively; surround a person with
influence".
There is also a Middle English sense: "to polish a gem with a
lap", i.e, a rotating wheel which could be applied to boring
Dora´s rotating insistence at "Van´s rock", but it still makes no
sense.
There is a Van rock in Armenia, and it is close to a " LakeVan" (
as pointed out by B.Boyd) where there are ruins of a chapel
dedicated to Queen Ada. But VN was not referring to items in a
landscape!
Could a rendering in another language, like "... his
sister´s sonorous soliloquy ( dying at the rock of Van´s impassivity )
..." be considered satisfactory?
Jansy
----------------------------------------------
ED. Judging by own experience the most common senses are "water lapping the
shore" and "the cat laps up the milk." The No. 1 usage above is distinctly
odd. I wonder if Dr Lapiner (lapochka) is the "Cavalcanti quoter""
I-3, p. 24 and echoed in Aqua's
word-salad.