short - trousers reaching only to the knees or higher (orig. knee-breeches). In the U.S. also spec. underpants + Scherz (ger) = scherts (Dutch) - joke, fun, raillery.
beinn (ben) (gael) - peak, headland. + hell’s bells - An expression of anger or annoyance + "Hellsbells, I'm sorry I missed her!" [208.27]
soddy - abounding in sods; consisting or composed of sods; of the nature of a sod + sorry + Soddy, Frederick - British mathematician, author of Chemistry of the Radioactive Elements.
scholium - In certain mathematical works (e.g. Newton's Principia): A note added by the author illustrating or further developing some point treated in the text + scholium (l) - interpretation.
trist - confident, sure, trusty; sad, sorrowful + three
ich = each (obs.) + ich (ger) - I.
three + x to the third (power of three).
euch - obs. form of each + euche (gr) - prayer + Euch (ger) - to you.
four + vier (ger) - four + vierde (Dutch) - fourth.
qued - evil, wicked, bad + Qu[od] e[rat] d[emonstrandum] - which was to be proved (appears after theorems in Euclid) + what
spectre - an apparition, phantom, or ghost, esp. one of a terrifying nature or aspect
omination - the action of omening or presaging + Yeats in A Vision discusses ambivalence in modern thinking: 'I had never read Hegel, but my mind had been full of Blake from boyhood up and I saw the world as a conflict - Spectre and Emanation - and could distinguish between a contrary and a negation.'
dimensioned + mentioned.
lourde - obs. form of lord
best + Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 13: 'My George! It's the beatenest thing I ever struck' + A...B...C.
lay - the way, position, or direction in which something is laid or lies (esp. said of country); disposition or arrangement with respect to something.
superposition - the placing of one thing above or upon another; Geom. The action of ideally transferring one figure into the position occupied by another, esp. so as to show that they coincide.
quoi (l) - to whom? + FDV: O dear me, look at that, now. What a coincidence quincidence.
O[mnes] K[alendae] (l) - all Calends, every first of the month (O Hehir, Brendan; Dillon, John M. / A classical lexicon for Finnegans wake).
canine - of, belonging to, or characteristic of, a dog; having the nature or qualities of a dog + Canis (l) - "The Dog": worst throw with dice (1 on a single die, 2 on a pair, etc.)
Venus - Mythol. The ancient Roman goddess of beauty and love (esp. sensual love), or the corresponding Greek goddess Aphrodite + Venus (l) - "The Beauty": highest or best throw with dice (three sixes).
sublimate - to transmute into something higher, nobler, more sublime or refined
Aulidike (gr) - belonging to Aulis (small port in Beotia from which the Greek fleet sailed to Troy)
Aphrodite (gr) - goddess of sensual love, identified with Venus
omnes collidimus (l) - we all clash together, we all collide (O Hehir, Brendan; Dillon, John M. / A classical lexicon for Finnegans wake).
Oliver Cromwell + krumm (ger) - crooked.
slep - to slip
uber (ger) - over
granny - a familiar, endearing, or contemptuous synonym of grandmother + Grania + anya (Hungarian) - mother.
horse feathers (Slang) - nonsense + crocodile tears - The crocodile was fabulously said to weep, either to allure a man for the purpose of devouring him, or while (or after) devouring him; hence many allusions in literature.
in the name of wonder - Used with an interrogative word to give emphasis to a question.
levin (Archaic) - lightning
bolt - The vb. stem is used advb. to express a sudden rapid motion; = 'bolting, with one bolt, straight'.
mixed - mentally confused, 'muddled'; esp. 'muzzy' with drink + muxa (gr) - snot.
gape - to stare in wonder or admiration + barking up the wrong tree (phrase) - making a mistake or a false assumption in something you are trying to achieve + (looking at her navel (π) instead of at her vulva (P)).
place + palce (Czech) - big toes.
scum - a film of impurities or vegetation that can form on the surface of a liquid
Geist (ger) - ghost + seeing the ghost.
fornenst - right opposite to, over against; facing + Faust I.1338: 'Ich bin der Geist der stets verneint': 'I am the spirit that evermore denies'.
simpleton - a silly or foolish person + FDV: But you're looking at the wrong place, you blessed simpleton simpletop.
damn fool
letter man's + Laterne (ger) - lantern + blasted lantern's.
lap - to pass the tongue over + FDV: You must look at upon the reflection in the water below.
wonder - to regard with wonder; to marvel at: often implying profound admiration + vandret (Danish) - horizontally.
bluish - somewhat blue
reflection (in water)
trunk - the human body, or that of an animal, without the head, or esp. without the head and limbs, or considered apart from these
brainbox - the skull
bolg (bulug) (gael) - belly + bølgelinie (Danish) - waveline.
ysee - to see, behold
puncture - perforation with a sharp-pointed instrument or object; a mark, hole, or wound made by pricking + (vulva).
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 33: 'So he done it'
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 16: 'we didn't see her good'.
exclusivism - the principle or practice of being exclusive; systematic exclusiveness
orsa (l) - beginnings; words, speech
sors (l) - die, lot; destiny, fate
fors (l) - chance, incident
oh dear - The interjection or exclamation + Dee, John (1527-1608) - English astrologer, necromancer, mathematician; translated Euclid + Adear, adear! (motif) + FDV: O dear me, that's very lovely! Very lovely entirely!
Hammel (ger) - wether; sheep + William Gerard 'Single Speech' Hamilton - Irish M.P.; made brilliant maiden speech; said never to have spoken again.
O'Hagan, Thomas, 1st baron (1812-85) - lord chancellor of Ireland, a great orator. He began as a nationalist, but sold out to the English (Ulysses.7.707: 'silvertongued O'Hagan').
idiotism - a peculiarity of phrase, a current deviation or departure from the strict syntactical rules or usages of a language; extreme folly, senselessness, or stupidity, exhibited in thought or conduct [Millington's 'English as She is Spoke' includes a section headed 'Idiotisms and Proverbs'].
soluble - a soluble constituent, esp. of a foodstuff + all Chinese words have one syllable.
George Bernard Shaw pointed out that GHOTI spells 'fish' (pronounced as in enouGH, wOmem and naTIon; also attributed to Dudeney).
U (Dutch) - you + yü (Chinese) - fish.
ars (l) - art + arse + rolls his r's.
show a clean pair of heels - to escape by superior speed
hise = them + size.
Yangtze River, or Ch'ang Chiang, or Chang Jiang + yang (Chinese) - sheep; foreign + lang (Chinese) - wolf + slang (Dutch) - snake, serpent.
tsi (Chinese) - son + feng (Chinese) - seam + tzu (Chinese) - word.
analytical - Lang. Expressing the various notions and relations into which a proposition or complex notion may be analyzed, by distinct words, instead of combining several into one word; as, they shall be sent out for e-mitt-e-nt-ur; with a sword for gladio; plus fort for fortior; of man for man's; Math. Applied to geometry treated by means of algebra, in the Cartesian representation of curves and surfaces by equations.
plausible - having an appearance or show of truth, reasonableness, or worth; apparently acceptable or trustworthy (sometimes with implication of mere appearance).
power - a celestial or spiritual being having control or influence; a deity, a divinity. Chiefly in plural, originating in its application to the pagan divinities; often in asseveration or exclamation, as by (all) the powers!
Kelly, Moll - commom Irish phrase for swearing by [Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: The House by the Churchyard, prologue: 'Oh! be the powers of o' Moll Kelly!']
topsawyer - the sawyer who works the upper handle of a pit-saw; fig. One who holds a superior position, a first-rate hand at something + Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
lozenge - a plane rectilineal figure, having four equal sides and two acute and two obtuse angles; a rhomb
laufe (ger) - run + a lesson to me all my life.
copperas - cupric, ferrous or zinc sulphate + (it would have been better if we'd talked about money).
doodle - a silly or foolish fellow, a noodle; to draw or scrawl aimlessly + Dedalus + (sigla used by Joyce in his manuscripts for, respectively, HCE, ALP, Issy, the four old men, the book and its title, Shaun, and Shem) + *E* siglum may derive from E of Everyman or Earwicker, *A* siglum may derive from delta or pudendum, *I* siglum may derive from fallen T of Tristan, *V* siglum may derive from A of Abel or from partial *A*, *C* siglum may derive from C of Cain or from partial *E*.
huddle duddle - a decrepit old man
Joyce's father urged James to seek a clerkship in Guinness's (Father Butt in Joyce's 'Stephen Hero' thought similarly; so did Stanislaus).
regrettable - deserving of, calling for, regret
parson - a chaplain, a curate, any clergyman