"O'Donohue's White Horses" is an Irish phrase for waves on a windy day. According to legend, O'Donohue appears every 7th year on Mayday, on the lakes of Killarney + Witte Donderdag (Dutch) - Maundy Thursday (literally 'White Thursday') + 12 July in Ulster - King Billy on white horse + wet Thursday.
midril (Shelta) - devil + One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night (song).
bolg (bulug) (geal) - belly + Bulgarian.
sbogom (Bulgarian) = zbogom (Serbian) - so long, good bye, farewell (literally 'with God') + s bogom (Serbian) = God speed.
rough - made in a general way without detailed minuteness; having an approximate accuracy or adequacy, rudely sufficient
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 27: 'along about noon-time'.
equinox - one of the two periods in the year when the days and nights are equal in length all over the earth, owing to the sun's crossing the equator + equina arx (l) - castle belonging to horses.
calendar + cholos (gr) - gall, bile, bitter anger + cholodny (Russian) - cold.
plain - an extent of level ground or flat meadow land
Khorassan - name of a province in north-east Iran, mountainous but includes Jovain plain in North, the saline desert of the Great Kavin in central and West part + Khorsun - early Greek Christian colony close to modern Sevatopol in the Crimea [.09-.10]
Babel - the city and tower, of which the attempted construction is described in Genesis xi, where the confusion of languages is said to have taken place + Bethel (Ugaritic: bt il, meaning "House of El" or "House of God") - border city described in the Hebrew Bible as being located between Benjamin and Ephraim.
William Shakespeare: Macbeth II. (MACBETH): "Methought I heard a voice cry 'Sleep no more! / Macbeth does murder sleep', the innocent sleep, / Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleeve of care, / The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, / Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, / Chief nourisher in life's feast,--" (LADY MACBETH): "What do you mean?" (MACBETH): "Still it cried 'Sleep no more!' to all the house: 'Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more'."
elve = elf (obs.) + elf (ger) = elve (Danish) - eleven + elv (Norwegian) - river.
to (Danish) - two + 1132.
krov (Serbian) - roof + krava (Serbian) = krowa (Polish) - cow + krov (Ruthenian) = krew (Polish) = krv (Serbian) - blood + as the crow flies.
skimish - alcoholic drink, liquor + Ghazi Power led a 'power' of skirmishes, odd adventurers.
blodig (Danish) - bloody + den (Bulgarian) - day.
god (Danish) - good + nat (Danish) - night + godina (Serbian, Bulgarian) - year + the Flood lasted forty days and forty nights.
heghegh (Armenian) - flood, torrent
vreme (Serbian, Bulgarian) - weather; time + rainy
wetter - a wetting, soaking; one who wets + Wetter (ger) - weather + veter (Russian) - wind.
mournful - full of, or oppressed with, sorrow or grief + full moon.
aver - possession, property, estate, wealth; money + ever
doomsday - the judgement day + dim (Serbian) - smoke.
Reilly = Riley; In colloq. phr. 'the life of Riley', a comfortable, enjoyable, and carefree existence + Persse O'Reilly.
oir (Cornish) - cold, frigid + I was in the Royal Irish Militia.
Chersonesus (l) = Chersonesos (gr) - "Peninsula": peninsula of Sevastopol (known as Little Chersonese, to distinguish it from Crimea, known as Great Chersonese) + Karkonosze (Polish) - Giant Mountains, Riesengebirge (Sudetic Mountains) + krzesać (Polish) - to strike (fire).
militia - the distinctive name of a branch of the British military service, forming, together with the volunteers, what are known as 'the auxiliary forces' as distinguished from the regular army + miles (l) - soldier + Milesia (l) - city in Asia Minor + Milesians + Silesia.
as under + Sandhurst - military college.
Siddhartha Gautama - the Buddha + Sir Arthur Wellesley (Wellington).
Various military establishments sited in Woolwich Warren in the 17th and 18th centuries became known as the Royal Arsenal from 1805. The Royal Military Academy, begun in 1721 in the arsenal, was moved to Woolwich Common in 1806, into a building built by the architect James Wyatt. In this building many famous soldiers received their instruction, including Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, General Charles George Gordon, and General Orde Wingate.
donkeys' years
somewhile - at some unspecified time, sometimes + World War I letters headed 'somewhere in Flanders'.
Cromwellian + Crimean War.
Ireland + ayer (Malay) - water + FSTD: (26) Butt — Horrasure. It was somewhile in the Crimealian war, samewhere in Ayerland. And I was during my me weeping stillstumns over the fresh prosts of Eastcheap & the dangling garters of Marrowbone but still and all I was doing during daring my wapping stiltstunts [Old style and heave a lep onward.] And winn again [on Bostion Bastion (Mess)] plays goat the Bansha pealer! Up the revels! Getting up me anti vanillas. And getting off me the stissas me auntie. And swiping a johnnydans sweep for to exercitise myself between washing carnages all over crumwilliam wall Be the why it was me [who] ha ha haw haw
stumm (ger) - dumb; silent + Wappenstillstand (ger) = wapenstilstand (Dutch) - truce, armistice [.13]
fleshpots of Egypt - luxuries or advantages regarded with regret or envy + Prost! - To your health! + prostitutes.
marrowbones (Slang) - knees + Hanging Gardens of Babylon + Eastcheap and Marylebone - places in London.
wap - to beat, strike; to fold up, wrap + wapping (Cant) - copulating, fornicating + Wapping - area of London + Wappen (ger) - insignia + Waffenstillstand (ger) = wapenstilstand (Dutch) - truce, armistice.
Boston, Massachusetts
Gregorian (New Style) calendar did not replace Julian (Old Style) in Russia until after 1917 Revolution, whereas it was adopted in many parts of Europe in 1582.
stilt - one of two stout poles with foot rests in the middle, used for walking high above the ground
lep = leap (obs.) + lep (Serbian) - beautiful + FSTD: And I was during my me weeping stillstumns over the fresh prosts of Eastcheap & the dangling garters of Marrowbone but still and all I was doing during daring my wapping stiltstunts [Old style and heave a lep onward.]
onwards = onward - in the direction of what is ahead, towards the front + Alfred Lord Tennyson: The Charge of the Light Brigade i: 'Half a league onwards'.
will + Finnegan.
blackguards + blagodarya (Bulgarian) - thank you.
lues - a plague or pestilence; a spreading disease, esp. syphilis + rue the day - to feel very sorry about an event ("She'll rue the day (that) she bought that house") + lose.
banshee - a supernatural being supposed by the peasantry of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands to wail under the windows of a house where one of the inmates is about to die.
pealer - a person who displays exceptional aptitude or enthusiasm for an activity + The Peeler and the Goat (song): 'Bansha peelers' + FSTD: And winn again [on Bostion Bastion (Mess)] plays goat the Bansha pealer! Up the revels!
great day - 1000 yrs (Joyce's note) + Malachi 4:5: 'the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord'.
San - Saint + san (Serbian) - dream.
Patrick - name of the patron saint of Ireland
splendorous - full of splendour, resplendent, bright
agreeable - pleasing, pleasant
trustworthy - worthy of trust or confidence, reliable
cylindrical - of the form of a cylinder
hepta- - seven
Anno Domini - in the year of the Christian era; in the year since (the reputed date of) the birth of Christ + anni Domini (l) - years of the Lord.
Hafiz - pen-mame of Shams-ad-din-Mohammed (d.1388), Persian poet + Haji - pilgrim to Mecca + Hodges Figgis - Dublin bookstore.
timelag - the length of time separating two correlated physical phenomena
is in it (Irish) - exists
book + BOG OF ALLEN - Series of peat bogs, central Ireland, from about 17 miles West of Dublin almost to Shannon River; source of the Brosna, Boyne, and Barrow Rivers; traversed by Grand and Royal canals.
Colmcille + Sullivan: The Book of Kells 4: 'the famous Book of Kells, or as it is often called the Book of Colum Cille'.
prophecy - the foretelling of future events + Preface (part of Mass).
broke + Eire go brath (ere gubra) (geal) - Ireland until Judgement Day, Ireland forever.
I continue + I can tell you.
incommixed - not mixed together, or with something; unmingled
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 18: 'took out after them' → 'Then the men see them, and jumped on their horses and took out after them. They gained on the boys, but it didn't do no good, the boys had too good a start'.
dead beat - a worthless idler who sponges on his friends; a man down on his luck; a beat or stroke which stops 'dead' without recoil + Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 29: 'dead-beats' → 'These uncles of yourn ain't no uncles at all; they're a couple of frauds -- regular dead-beats.'
Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 8: 'Well, dey's reasons' → '"How do you come to be here, Jim, and how'd you get here?" He looked pretty uneasy, and didn't say nothing for a minute. Then he says: "Maybe I better not tell." "Why, Jim?" "Well, dey's reasons. But you wouldn' tell on me ef I uz to tell you, would you, Huck?" "Blamed if I would, Jim." "Well, I b'lieve you, Huck. I -- I RUN OFF."'
give the cold
shoulder - to display intentional and
marked coldness + Mark Twain:
Huckleberry Finn 31: 'we would give them the cold shake and
clear out' → 'We judged
they was studying up some kind of worse deviltry than ever. We turned it over
and over, and at last we made up our minds they was going to break into
somebody's house or store, or was going into the counterfeit-money business, or
something. So then we was pretty scared, and made up an agreement that we
wouldn't have nothing in the world to do with such actions, and if we ever got
the least show we would give them the cold shake and clear out and leave them
behind.'
blighty - affected with blight (any malignant influence of obscure or mysterious origin)
perisher - that which perishes or destroys; also applied to persons as a term of contempt, and more generally, with an overtone of pity + perisher (Slang) - periscope.
feller = fellow + Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn 33: 'he lays over the yaller-fever' → 'Everybody made a rush for the front door, because, of course, a stranger don't come EVERY year, and so he lays over the yaller-fever, for interest, when he does come.'
longa - long + longa (Beche-la-Mar) - to + Longaville - one of the young men who give up women in Love's Labour's Lost + longa villa (l) - a spacious country house.
toumba (Provençal) - to fall + toumbado (Provençal) - fall.
aclapa (Provençal) - cover with stones + aclapadis (Provençal) - heap of ruins + applauded + clapped.
banjo - a stringed musical instrument, played with the fingers, having a head and neck like a guitar, and a body like a tambourine + peddler - one who goes about carrying small goods for sale + The Peeler and the Goat (song): 'Bansha peelers'.
stissa (Italian Dialect) - anger + Vanessa and Stella (Swift) + FSTD: Getting up me anti vanillas. And getting off me the stissas me auntie.
aunty - a familiar, endearing form of aunt; In U.S.: 'A familiar term, often used in accosting an elderly woman' + antistita (l) - a female overseer, chief priestess + anastasê (gr) - resurrection.
Boxer Rising, China, 1900 + Box and Cox - the name of a farce written by J. M. Morton in 1847, in which two characters, John Box and James Cox, occupy the same apartment (the one by day and the other by night).
Jonathan Swift
exercise + exercitus (l) - trained organized army, the army.
top hat - a person of the kind or class that wears a top hat; an important or senior person + topka (Bulgarian) - ball, dance + top (Serbian) - gun.
roaming - that roams or wanders + Rome and Carthage + Roman Catholics.
cartridge - Mil. The case in which the exact charge of powder for fire-arms is made up; of paper, parchment, pasteboard, flannel, serge, metal, etc., according to its use. Generally, for small-arms, the cartridge contains the bullet as well as the powder.
oruzhie (Russian) - weapon + horosho (Russian) - very well.
patron - to act as patron to, to champion or favour as a patron; to patronize + patronna (Russian) - cartridge + The Peeler and the Goat (song): 'on duty and patrolling, O'.
Oliver Cromwell + Crimean War + William III (1650-1720) - Dutch prince of Orange and Nassau; later, with his wife Mary II, he ruled England and Ireland. William III beat James II at the Boyne, 1690. He made a treaty with the Catholics at Limerick which he broke or let his underlings break, and the Catholics had as foul, cruel a time of it as ever they had from Cromwell. The Boyne has always been celebrated by Ulster Protestants on "The Twalfth" of July with parades, featuring big drums (Lambeg Drums 398.29) and atrocious behavior to papists. In Dublin (before the Free State) the Ulstermen's brazen calf was a lead equestrian statue of King Billy on College Green which, on Williamite holy days, was painted white (a white horse in a fanlight is still a sign of Protestant sympathies) and decorated with orange lilies (Lili O'Rangans) and green and white ribbons "symbolically placed beneath its uplifted foot." Catholics retorted by vandalizing the statue, tarring, etc., and in 1836 succeeded in blowing the figure of the king off the horse.
by + FSTD: And swiping a johnnydans sweep for to exercitise myself between washing carnages all over crumwilliam wall Be the why it was me [who] ha ha haw haw
haw - An utterance marking hesitation + Lord Haw-Haw - the nickname of James Brudenell, Earl of Cardigan, the man who led The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava + (breaks off laughing).
all for - entirely in favour of, on the side of + all forgetting
tinder - fire; a spark; a tinder-box + thunder and lightning.
beheiz- (ger) - heat + heiss (ger) - hot.
Feuer (ger) - fire + "And They Put Him Behind in the Fire".
obeisant - humbly or servilely obedient, obsequious + basia (l) - kisses + obedientia civium urbis felicitas
felicity - the state of being happy, happiness
civvy - civilian (one who does not professionally belong to the Army or the Navy; a non-military person) + skivi (gr) - equipment, attire, apparel.
smoking + smalcadh (smolku) (geal) - devouring, eating greedily.
favourite + fulvus (l) - deep yellow, tawny.
Turkish - colloq. for Turkish tobacco
rooking - cheating, swindling + rauchen (ger) - smoking + rooken (Dutch) - to smoke.