A.Sklyarenko: "Like Van Veen, Nabokov was ein unverbesserlicher Witzbold, but, Rack being a Mozart-like figure, "Baron von Wien" seems to hint at several characters in Pushkin's "Little Tragedies" ..." JM:... whenever Nabokov mentions Wien he is referring to the "Viennese quack." ( "Dr Froit of Signy-Mondieu-Mondieu in the Ardennes or, more likely, the same man, because they both came from Vienne, Isère...")

JM: A rapid google-search (wiki) for the French and Austrian Vienne, Vienna, Wien and the "Viennois", shows that (rather surprisingly for me, when we leave out Freud and Von Wien), the etymology seems to inspire Aqua's ("water") relation to river names that indicates torrential waters. Nevertheless, I don't think Nabokov departed from this kind of information when he played with Wien and Vienna.

Vienne (Isère) - France Coordinates: 46°30′N 00°30′E / 46.5°N 0.5°E / 46.5; 0.5Coordinates: 46°30′N 00°30′E / 46.5°N 0.5°E / 46.5; 0.5
Country France Region Poitou-Charentes Vienne is the northernmost département of the Poitou-Charentes region of France, named after the river Vienne.
Vienne is one of the original 83 departments, established on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Poitou, Touraine, and Berry. The original Acadians who settled in Nova Scotia and what is today other maritime provines of Canada, left Vienne for North America after 1604.[...] Isère is part of the current region of Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the departments of Rhône, Ain, Savoie, Hautes-Alpes, Drôme, Ardèche, and Loire. Isère was also the name of the French ship which delivered the 214 boxes holding the Statue of Liberty

The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald...It is Germany's second most important tributary of the Danube after the Inn.Etymology: According to the most common interpretation the name Isar is a construction of the Celtic words ys (fast, torrential) and ura (water, river). According to another interpretation ys may mean “high” as well as “low”, referring to the rapidly changing water level in the river Isar. In the ancient settlement area of the Celts several related river names can be found: Jizera (Czech Republic); Isère (France); Isel (Austria);
IJssel (Netherlands);Jzer (Belgium); Eisack (Italy); Isar (Spanish town, in the province of Burgos). It may be possible that the ancient name of the lower part of the river Danube, Ister, has the same source. Newer interpretations relate it to the Old Basque particle *(w)its-, 'water', also seen in similar but otherwise unexplained river names, such as Vézère, Vizela, Weser and Vistula. [...Schließlich muss sich das die gleiche Wurzel enthaltende „Eisach“ („Wasserlauf“) als Name mehrerer Gebirgsbäche im Alpenraum nicht notwendig auf „eiskaltes“ Wasser beziehen. Die Interpretation Hans Bahlows, dass sich das Wort Isar von es, as oder os ableiten ließe und damit als „Sumpfwasser“ zu interpretieren sei, ist in Fachkreisen höchst umstritten, da es sich bei den Namensträgern ja um fließende Gewässer handelt..Als veraltet gilt jedenfalls die Deutung, wonach sich der Name Isar aus den keltischen Worten ys (schnell, reißend) und ura (Wasser, Fluss) zusammensetzen soll. Nach einer anderen Interpretation soll ys gleichzeitig für hoch und tief stehen und damit die Vertikale bezeichnen.]

Vienna lies in the east of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region. Along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region of 3 million inhabitants, referred to as Twin City. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The English name of Vienna, the official German name Wien, and the names of the city in most languages, are thought to be derived from the Celtic word "findu", meaning bright or fair – as in the Irish "fionn" – but opinions vary on the precise origin. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning "forest stream," which subsequently became Venia, Wienne and Wien. Others claim that the name comes from the Roman settlement Vindobona, probably meaning "white base/bottom," which became Vindovina, Vídeň (Czech) and Wien. The name of the city in Hungarian (Bécs), Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (Beč) and Ottoman Turkish (Beç) appears to have a different, Slavonic origin.In Slovene, the city is called Dunaj, which in other Slavic languages means the Danube River, on which it is located.

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