benefit of clergy - orig. the privilege of exemption from trial by a secular court, allowed to or claimed by clergymen arraigned for felony; in later times the privilege of exemption from the sentence, which, in the case of certain offences, might be pleaded on his first conviction by every one who could read. The ability to read, being originally merely the test of the 'clergy', or clerical position, of the accused, came at length to be in itself the ground of the privilege, so that the phrase became = 'benefit of scholarship'.
thingman - a member of Scandinavian juridical assembly + THING MOTE - The assembly place, usually on a mound, established by the Vikings whenever they settled. In Dublin, the Thing Mote was on a low hill South of the present Dame Street, at the intersection of Church Lane and Suffolk Street. The hill of the Thing Mote was called the Howe, Haugh, or "Howe over the Stein" (Steyne), from haugr, Old Danish "hill, sepulchral mound."
Mod - the yearly meeting of the Highland Association, for literary and musical competitions.
done him in - had him killed or injured or cheated
beneficiary - one who receives benefits or favours; a debtor to another's bounty.
legion - a vast host or multitude (of persons or things) + Mark 5:9: 'My name is Legion: for we are many'.
Pearce: Sims Reeves, Fifty Years of Music in England 206: 'since Herr Staudigl 'created' the part' (of Elijah).
number - to amount to, or be equal to, in number
Dunlop - a scotch cheese + Joyce's note: 'Dunlop' → manufacturer of tyre and rubber products from 1889 to 1985.
behung - hung about
bissac (French Slang) - vulva
ulva (l) - sedge + ulv (Danish) - wolf + veni, vidi, vici (l) - I came, I saw, I conquered.
lou = low + lo!
to tear limb from limb - to tear all over (in every part of the body)
mortification - a numbing of the vital faculties
expiration - the fact of coming to an end; termination, end, close + uxor (l) - wife.
damnation - Theol. Condemnation to eternal punishment in the world to come, perdition.
annihilation - Theol. The destruction of soul as well as body; the action or process of reducing to nothing, or of blotting out of existence.
Schrei (ger) - shriek
grida (it) - cries, shouts
deprofundis - a profound and agonised expression of despair or misery + de profundis (l) - "out of the depths": Vulgate Psalms 130 + Written from Wilde's prison cell at Reading Gaol to his friend and lover Lord Alfred Douglas, De Profundis explodes the conventions of the traditional love letter and offers a scathing indictment of Douglas's behavior, a mournful elegy for Wilde's own lost greatness, and an impassioned plea for reconciliation.
sisters + suspiritus (l) - sigh + soupirs (fr) - sighs.
Suil-dubhan (gael) - black-eyed
mannequin = manikin - a little man, dwarf
London Bridge Is Falling Down - a children's singing game
to sweep the board - to take all the cards, to pocket all the stakes. Also often transf. and fig., to carry off all the stakes or prizes; hence, to carry off all the honours.
Adeste fideles (l) - Be present, faithful ones (Come, all you faithful)
felon - a vile or wicked person, a villain, wretch, monster + Fidelio - masculine name assumed by Imogen in Cymbeline, and by Lemore in Beethoven's Fidelio, which is based on Bouilly's Lenore or Conjugal Love. Imogen-like chimney sweepers-was thought to have come to dust.
Flucher (ger) - one who curses
bawl - a loud prolonged rough cry + ball - a glass of brandy (slang) + Phil the Fluter's Ball - Percy French song ('With the toot of the flute and the twiddle of the fiddle, O!')
flout - a mocking speech or action; a piece of mockery, jeer, scoff.
fettle - a state of fitness or order + as fit as a fiddle - in good 'form' or condition + in fine fettle - in fine state.
all + wohl (ger) - well.
chinchin - exp. of greeting or farewell, casual or trivial talk, chatter
chime - to produce a musical sound from a bell, to summon by chiming + came
din - a loud noise; particularly a continued confused or resonant sound + in
joviality - jollity, festivity, conviviality + song Phil the Fluter's Ball: 'Then all joined in wid the utmost joviality'.
swipe - to drink at one gulp
beaune - red table wine produced in France
sherry - the still white wine made near Xeres
cider - a beverage made from the juice of apples expressed and fermented.
negus - a mixture of wine (esp. port or sherry) and hot water, sweetened with sugar and flavoured.
lemonade + citron - lemon + song Hooligan's Christmas Cake: 'There were plums and prunes and cherries, Raisins and currants and cinnamon too' + song Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake: 'There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too... It would kill a man twice After eating a slice Of Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake'.
strongers = strong drink - intoxicating liquor, alcoholic liquors generally.
mester = mister + Henrik Ibsen: "Bygmester Solness" (The Master Builder (Solness)).
Beggar and Pegger - appear to be antagonists, mendicant, vs. Welsh stone-thrower. They follow a pattern: personal encounter, Beggar's plea, Pegger's attack on Beggar. The pattern may owe something to Baudelaire's fable (mentioned in W Lewis' Tarr) of beggar and poet who beat each other to a pulp + begge (Danish) - both.
bag - to put into a bag, to shoot down, destroy
softy - a very soft-hearted person; one who is considered cowardly, weak, or unmanly.
seufzen (ger) - sigh + James Macpherson: The Poems of Ossian: Carric-Thura: 'The soft sigh of Utha was near!'
Eheu, fugaces [...labuntur anni] (l) - Alas, the fleeting [...years glide away] (opening of Horace's 14th Ode of the Second book) + for gassies ~ vergiss es (ger) - forget it.
Power, Frank, "Ghazi" (1858-84) - Dublin journalist, jester, he claimed to have been at Plevna and gained the title of "Ghazi" on "Brave" when he led a Turkish cavalry charge, crying "Hooroo for Dublin!" He tried to hoax Parnell with a story of Dublin risen in revolt, and showed a "bullet wound" in his leg which turned out to be a blind boil on "illconditioned ulcer." Power was killed trying to escape Khartoum.
throne - to sit on a throne + Trennung (ger) - separation + treenige Gud (Danish) - threefold God.
erring - that errs; wandering, roaming (obs.); deviating from the right or intended course, missing the mark; that is in error, or commits errors in opinion or conduct.
condonable - excausable, forgivable
statue - to represent in a statue, to turn into a statue + status quo - the existing state of affairs (latin - "state in which").
Kuo (Swiss and old high German for Kuh) - cow + Queen + kuo (Chinese) - country, nation.
mess - company of persons eating together + mischief - a cause or source of harm or evil.
king + kuang (Chinese) - light + wang (Chinese) - king.
shu (Chinese) - tree
loom - to appear indistinctly; to come into view in an enlarged and indefinite form + FDV: The heroic shade looms up big, human, erring, forgivable behind the varied speeches of his fellow men & women.
jostling - clashing, knocking or pushing about
mal - - bad, badly, abnormal + recapture - to experience again.
firstshot (Slang) - weak poteen of first distillation
Zurich's sedately riotous festival is Sechseläuten, held in April, when an effigy of the Bogg, a snowman representing Winter, is ceremonially burned in the Bellevueplatz as the bells ring out for 6 PM.
times + tommies (Slang) - English soldiers + (notebook 1922-23): 'Three soldiers were walking in Fleet Street. One gave an opinion in which all concurred. It was the woman He proved himself a man afterwards' + The simple “three soldiers” of the first draft become more and more our familiar Tom Dick and Harry, at levels 3 and 4, themselves peeing (including also the pot on a pole, in “cappapee”), and at level 5 being at Waterloo, as we can tell from “wellesday”.
Soldiers Three - Kipling's privates Ortheris, Learoyd, Mulvaney. Joyce here plays with the song, "We be soldiers three... pardonnez-moi, je vous en prie, etc."; Je vous en prie - you're welcome (literally, "I'm at your service") + Daily Sketch 14 Dec 1922: 'Petition for Reprieve of Bywaters is Ready To-Day': 'Three soldiers were walking together in Fleet-street; one gave an opinion in which all concurred. It was the woman who was to blame. Bywaters played a bad part in the crime, but he was coerced. He proved himself a man afterwards'.
cockaleekie - a soup made of chicken boiled with leeks + FDV: Three soldiers of the Coldstream Guards were walking in Montgomery street.
cap a pie - from head to foot + cappa, pi (it) - K, P + Joyce's levels: Three soldiers A>soldiers [4 <three<A> free 4] A>, [4 <B>cockaleek &<B capapee> cockaleak and cappapee 4] ,<A 3]
pardonnez-moi, je vous en prie (fr) - excuse me, please + song We Be Soldiers Three: 'We be soldiers three, Pardonnez-moi, je vous en prie' .
MONTGOMERY STREET - Now Foley Street, running West from Amiens (mow Connolly) Station to Mabbot Street. The entrance to the once brothel district, often called "Monto."
finner - genus of whales; finnoc (a white trout)
camp - a company of persons encamped or moving in a group
concur - to agree in opinion (with) + FDV: One gave an opinion in which all concurred. It was the woman, they said; he showed himself a man afterwards.
soup - to increase power or efficiency of; to place in difficulties, to bring to grief + Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Matthew 6:28: 'lilies of the field'
con (Slang) - vulva
wroth - deep anger or resentment; wrath, rage, or fury
mod - modern; mood; modify + mod (Danish) - against + mod (Old English) - mind.
ældre (Danish) - elder + far (Danish) - father.
ruth - pitifulness; the feeling of sorrow for another; compassion, pity; mischief; calamity; ruin.
redd - to set in order, to clear; to save, rescue
Stillstand (ger) - halt, armistice + stilstand (Danish) = stilstand (Dutch) - standstill, cessation, stagnation, deadlock.
private - an ordinary soldier without rank or distinction of any kind
retro - backwards, into past time
terse - freed from verbal redundancy, neatly concise
consenter - one who consents, or is a party to anything + contender - a combatant, rival, competitor, disputant, wrangler.
san (gr) - ancient letter S + santo (it) - saint + Angelus: 'et concepit de Spiritu Sancto' (l) - 'and she conceived of the Holy Ghost'.
Vauxhall - locality in London (a popular pleasure resort on the bank of the Thames) + Joyce's note: 'An actress 'Then he has been so wonderful'' → Daily Sketch 14 Dec 1922: 'Petition for Reprieve of Bywaters is Ready To-Day': 'Miss Sheila Courtenay, who is appearing in "The Cat and the Canary" at the Shaftsbury Theatre, put the same view: "I do sincerely hope," she said, "that Bywaters will not be hanged. He is very young, and was egged on by a woman older than himself to do what he did. And then he has been so wonderful in his behaviour at the Old Bailey"'.
boards - the stage of a theatre
noted - well known by reputation, eminent
stagey - having characteristics of stage, theatrical
executioner - one who carries a sentence or judgement into effect, the official who carries out a sentence of death + electioneer - one who manages elections, who uses arts or influence to secure the return of a candidate.
waste basket - a basket (or box) into which waste paper is thrown; also fig. + (notebook 1922-23): 'vestpocket typewriter' → Evening Standard 9 Jan 1923, 8/3: 'Miniature Typewriter Weighs 1oz and goes into the Waistcoat Pocket' + Joyce's levels: she has been [4calledA>callit<A4] by a noted [4 <A>elocution<A> 4][4 < critic> elecutioner 4] a [4 <A>waistpocket<A> wastepacket 4] [4 < Siddons> Sittons.
Siddons, Sarah (1755-1831) - English actress. Her tragic question, "Will it wash?," is at 290.19 (Glasheen, Adaline / Third census of Finnegans wake).
west end - the theatres of the west end (part of London) + WEST END - The fashionable Western district of central London.
"beauty parlour" is slang for brothel + (notebook 1922-23): 'beauty parlour' + FDV: A leading coming actress who has been called by 1 critic a vestpocket Siddons was interviewed in a beauty parlour and while righting her cartwheel hat, said: she hoped he would be acquitted and get an Xmas pardon as the world had been unkind to him: Then he has been so truly wonderful she added.
parlour - an elegantly or showily fitted apartment, for some special business or trade use.
Peter: Dublin Fragments, Social and Historic 156: (of 18th century shopping) 'What do we know of... grandierells, cherry-derries, and cutfee handkerchiefs? All forgotten terms'.