*V* bit torn (Joyce's note)
linenhall - a market-hall for the sale of linens (undergarments)
valentino - a man having the sort of romantic good looks associated with Rudolph Valentino + valentine - a sentimental or humorous greeting card sent to a sweetheart, friend, or family member, for example, on Saint Valentine's Day; a gift sent as a token of love to one's sweetheart on Saint Valentine's Day.
The Letter: with fondest love
tutor - one employed in the supervision and instruction of a youth in a private household
The Letter: four crosskisses
benedicted - blessed + papal bull.
The Letter: poor Father Michael
parriage (Dublin Pronunciation) - parish + parish priest - the priest in charge of a parish.
forty days and forty nights (Christ in Wilderness, Matthew 4:2; The Flood, Genesis 7:17)
ratty (Austral. and N.Z. colloq.) - mad, eccentric, silly + ratto (it) - quickly, quick + Achille Ratti became Pope Pius XI.
too ---- for words - ---- to an extent that cannot adequately be described
enhance - to lift up with pride; to praise, extol
fancy - caprice, changeful mood, a whim + (notebook 1924): 'oblige my fancy'.
morn - dawn, morning; the next morning
(from morning to life's evening) + The Letter: unto life's end.
*V* please kindly (Joyce's note)
always + "Anna Livia concludes her letter with "grand funferall of poor Father Michael don't forget unto life & Muggy well how are you Maggy". And there is the rub, since the funeral of the doubledealing priest recalls "the grand fun for all," and a woman's memory is something a jealous lover can never erase. The unfaithful temptress and Anna's avatar Issy admits that the letter-valentine was originally meant, with a great many hugs and kisses, for her tutor and paramour Father Michael. Both her letter and Anna Livia's mention sister Maggy, and both insist on remembering what went in the past - "don's forget" and "never forget". Issy's letter would seem to tie the deception firmly to Nora [Joyce], her adventures with priests and boyfriends, and the town where everything occurred: Galway." (Michael H. Begnal: Joyce and the city).
again & again (Joyce's note)
The Letter: don't forget
absent + absentee - one who is absent, or away, on any occasion.
sester - a vessel for holding liquid; in OE. a jar, pitcher + sister + Combination of Sisters and The Dead gives two variations of myth of Isis and Osiris. In Sisters, Isis and Nephtys are Elizabeth and Annie (in fact, two of Joyce's great aunts) and in The Dead Julia (Julia Clare) and Kate (Ellen Mary). Combination of dead priest, father Flynn (Flynn is, of course, surname of those great aunts, daughters of Ellen and Patrick Flynn) and Gretta's (Margaret or Maggy) first love, Michael Fury gives father Michael. So the letter is from Gretta to Michael and connection between 'sister', ear whispering and father Flynn's sin can be found in THE PRIEST, THE WOMAN AND THE CONFESSIONAL, by Charles Chiniquy. (SS)
leveret - a young hare, strictly one in its first year + Goodbye, Sweetheart, Goodbye (song): 'The levret bounds o'er earth's soft flooring'.
sprig - small branch or division of a branch
speedwell - one or other species of Veronica, an extensive genus of small herbaceous plants with leafy stems and small blue (rarely pink or white) flowers
spell - an occult or mysterious power or influence; a fascinating or enthralling charm
flora - in Latin mythology, the goddess of flowers; hence, in modern poetical language, the personification of nature's power in producing flowers + Leslie Stuart: Florodora (operetta).
veronique - the picture or representation of the face of Christ said to be impressed upon the handkerchief or sudarium of St. Veronica; the cloth or kerchief, alleged to have belonged to St. Veronica, with which, according to legend, the face of Christ was wiped on the way to Calvary (sixth Station of the Cross), and upon which His features were miraculously impressed + véronique (fr) - speedwell (plant).
jer - the name of either member of the pairs of characters <glagjeru>, <glagjeri> and <cyrhard>, <cyrsoft> of the Slavonic Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets + *J* (Issy's sister).
merci (fr) - thank you + MERCY (& JUSTICE in next line).
Genesis 1:2: 'And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters'.
Bote (ger) - messenger + Boote (ger) - boats + U-Boote (ger) - submarines.
cattiness = cattishness - the quality of being 'cattish' (catlike, resembling a cat).
Portrait hardly did her justice (Joyce's note)
naggin - a small mug or cup + William Maginn - Irish poet, died of drink.
Write, won't you (Joyce's note) + "A jealous husband would not forget what might have gone on Galway either. Her call for him to write, and not to be jealous, is not very reassuring to a Joyce who wrote to Nora during both her Galway visits, especially when Issy asks him to sign his letters clearly "in case I couldn't think who it was or any funforall happens"." (Michael H. Begnal: Joyce and the city).
forward - to send forward, send to an ulterior destination
by return of post - orig. by return of the 'post' or courier who brought the dispatch (obs.); now, by the next mail in the opposite direction
pneu = pneumatique - the pneumatic dispatch system in Paris; a letter or message sent by this system + pneumatic dispatch - a system by which parcels, etc. are conveyed along tubes by compression or exhaustion of air.
curiose (it) - curious (feminine plural)
A.C.W. Harmsworth, Viscount Northcliffe - Irish newspaper magnate and founder of 'tabloid' journalism
tabloid - a popular newspaper which presents its news and features in a concentrated, easily assimilable, and often sensational form, esp. one with smaller pages than those of a regular newspaper + Oliver Wendell Holmes: The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table.
otherwise + eitherways.
petit bleu - a telegram in France, esp. one sent by the pneumatic post in Paris
gorgeous + gorgio (Gipsy) - a Gentile, a person who is not a Gypsy, one who lives in a house and not in a tent.
heard from him (Joyce's note) + The Letter: hopes to soon hear.
The Letter: dear, thank you ever so much
tie a knot - to knot a piece of string or a handkerchief, esp. as a reminder
thingumajig - something whose name is either forgotten or not known
silk paper - a kind of tissue-paper + silkepapir (Danish) - tissue paper.
kink - a short twist or curl in hair, at which it is bent upon itself
"Floh and Luse and Bienie and Vespatilla" [414.25]
chevelure - the hair of the head + chevalier (fr) - knight.
Boche - the (French) soldiers' name for a German + bouche (fr) - mouth.
praxis - action, practice + praxis (gr) - business.
oval ohs (notebook 1924) → Crépieux-Jamin: Les Éléments de l'Écriture des Canailles 283: 'artificial handwriting... with oval o's that, even by themselves, speak of deceit'.