-------- Original Message --------
A couple of replies to Charles (below):
On "smileys": Of course Nabokov didn't anticipate their popularity in
later
decades. Also, those "some of his readers" who can't tell when he's
joking
including amateurs and professionals who have spent a great deal of time
and thought on his works--or we wouldn't have the arguments we have
on this list. I doubt there's any way to make a subtle joke in print and
expect all perceptive readers to see that it's a joke.
On "Kongs-skugg-sio": the reason I asked is the Danish, Nynorsk, and
Bokmal
Wikipedias don't use that spelling or anything like it. (Maybe I should
have said
so.) However, Matt answered part my question off-list:
"Kongs-skuggs-sio"
is
used in earlier English texts, so Nabokov didn't invent it as an example
of
Zemblan. Maybe it's obsolete Danish or partially Danicized Old Norse?
Whatever the literal meaning of the "sja" element, there can't be much
doubt
that "skuggsja" meant "mirror", as the Latin title was /Speculum
Regale/.
It's interesting that "shadow" is part of the compound, though, so
thanks
for mentioning that.
Jerry Friedman