Dear Jansy,
In Russian we call gray eyes serye glaza.
The epithet sizyi (blue-gray, dove-colored) is hardly ever used to
describe the eye iris (only the unshaven cheeks can be sizye). I
always imagined Lolita's eyes as dymchato-serye (hazy-gray). See also
A. Dolinin's "A Note on the Last Name of Dolores Haze alias Lolita" in The
Nabokovian #50.
Cinderella's Russian name is Zolushka
(from zola, ashes, plus the diminutive suffix). Btw., as a child I was
sure it came from zoloto (gold).
Yes, Gradus is a jolly Naburlesque name. The
Russian noun gradus has more meanings than its English homograph
and is even used idiomatically. Btw., gradusnik is Russian
for "thermometer".
Speaking of proper names, there is no "Prof.
Lapin" in ADA. There are Dr Lapiner and Professor Lagosse.
Alexey Sklyarenko