fast - Of a person, his attributes, feelings, etc.: Not easily turned aside, constant, firm, steadfast.
tellus (l) - the earth, land;
terra (l) - dry land, ground.
note - a brief record or abstract of facts written down for the purpose of assisting the memory, or to serve as a basis for a more complete or full statement.
titbit - a brief and isolated interesting item of news or information
long and the short of it - in sum, in the heart of the matter
ups and downs - a reverses of fortune + ard (ard) (gael) - high; height.
list - to give ear, listen, to record, to show
liss - tranquility, peace, joy, delight + liss (Anglo-Irish) - fort.
smoothen - to make (a surface, substance, etc.) smooth, level, even, calm, etc.
O'Mordha (o'morge) (gael) - descendant of Mordha ("majestic")
varina (mod. l) - warning (coinage by Swift)
Quarta Quaedam - Latin for "Some fourth woman," Mr O Hehir says + quaedam (Slang) - whore.
room + oom (Dutch) - uncle.
Onkel (ger) - uncle + song Tommy, Make Room for Your Uncle.
pigeyed - having small and dip eyes + piggy - a little pig, or animal so called; also playfully applied, with various connotations, to a child + piger, hold op med jeres leg (Danish) - girls, cut out the nonsense.
hold up - raise, lift; to stop or impede the course or advance of; to exhibit, display + Hold op med jeres lege (Danish) - 'Stop your playing around'.
yer - your
the Scourge of God - a title given by historians to Attila, the leader of the Huns in the 5th c. + (notebook 1922-23): 'scourge of Littlehampton' → Daily Sketch 7 Dec 1922, 2/2: 'Mystery of Littlehampton's Scourge': 'so cunningly had the trap been set by the unknown scourge of Littlehampton' (three-year mystery of libellous and obscene letters, resulting in wrongful conviction of a Mrs Gooding) + FDV: Who then was the scourge of Lucalizod, it was wont to be asked, as once long ages behind what became of where is Peabody's money or and later later in time more to the point who shot Buckley though every schoolgirl knows by now that how it was Buckley who shot and how it was the Russian general & not Buckley who was shot? What fullpay poisonivy pry, or which hatefilled woman? And that such various vitriol of venom a quiet stamp could cover!
(notebook 1922-23): 'Lucalizod' + Lucan - Dublin environ on the Liffey. Two earls of Lucan may have interested Joyce: (1) Patrick Sarsfield, a Wild Goose, who fought under James II, died in 1693, saying, "O that this were for Ireland!"; (2) Lord Lucan, who commanded cavalry at Balaclava and is associated by Joyce with the Light Brigade. In FW, Lucan is often linked with its neighboring environ, Chapelizod, usually as "Lucalizod," which links Issy and the two Isoldes to Lucia Joyce and Alice. (Glasheen, Adaline / Third census of Finnegans wake.)
homo capite erectus (l) - erect man with a head, man erect as to the head (O Hehir, Brendan; Dillon, John M. / A classical lexicon for Finnegans wake) + (notebook 1924): 'Pithecanthropus erectus'.
wont - custom, habit
what price - what is the value of; what is the likelihood of; freq. merely an expression of contempt, 'so much for'.
peabody - a fast ballroom dance + Peabody, George (1795-1869) - American philanthropist. The Peabody Trust built working-class housing.
bluntly - stupidly, abruptly, rudely
whence - from what place? from what source, origin, or cause?
cravat - an article of dress worn round the neck, chiefly by men.
epoch - a period of history defined by the prevalence of some particular state of things; Geol. A period or division of the history of the formation of the earth's crust.
Cainozoic - of or pertaining to the third of the great geological periods [(notebook 1924): 'Cainozoic 80,000' ('80,000' replaces a cancelled '(reptiles)'; only first word crayoned)].
O'Buachalla (o'bukhele) (gael) - descendant of Buachaill ("boy")
then time - the time that was then, the past time referred to
filly - a young lively girl + schoolfellow - one who is or formerly was at the same school at the same time with another.
score - 20
moon - the average period of redurrence of the moon equal to 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes.
colleen - a girl, an Irish girl + colleen bawn (Anglo-Irish) - fair-haired girl + aroon (Anglo-Irish) - my dear, beloved (from Anglo-Irish a rún) + cailin ban a run (kolin ban arun) (gael) - my darling white-haired girl.
red flannel - flannel dyed red and formerly used esp. for making undrwear + Flamme (ger) - flame + redflannel (Slang) - tongue.
as sure as eggs is eggs - sure + ja (ger) - yes + jaja (Serbian, Polish) - eggs; testicles + yayi (Kiswahili) - eggs.
blooding - bleeding + bleeding = bloody - a vague epithet expressing anger or detestation.
da (russ, sr) - yes
caddish - of the nature of a cad, offensively ill-bred, the opposite of gentlemanly.
pry - to look, esp. to look closely or curiously; to peep or peer
Paul Pry - name of a very inquisitive character in a U.S. song of 1820 + (notebook 1922-23): ''Poison Ivy' (Cycl)'.
spy - to look at, examine, or observe closely or carefully; spec., to investigate with a spy-glass or telescope.
Until 1921, the Castle was the official residence of Lords Lieutenant, the highquarters of British administration, and the hated symbol of British rule. Spies were "in the pay of the Castle" or "Castle hacks".
hateful - full of hate, cherishing hatred, malignant + (notebook 1922-23): 'hatefilled women' + Daily Sketch 9 Dec 1922, 7/2: 'Zara the Cruel... splendid serial of Romance and Passion in the East... the shrill cries of many hate-filled women'.
smiley - exhibiting a smile
vitriol - virulence or acrimony of feeling or utterance
venom - any malign or noxious influence or quality; bitter or virulent feeling, language, etc.
affranchise - to free, to set at liberty from servitude; also from an obligation + Peter: Dublin Fragments, Social and Historic 179: 'stamps are far easier of adhesion than the thick unperforated "Queen's Heads" (as they were called) with which our forefathers had to be satisfied'.
sticking plaster - a material for covering and closing superficial wounds, consisting of linen, silk, or other textile fabric, or of plastic, spread with an adhesive substance + (notebook 1922-23): 'a quiet stamp' + Irish Times 6 Dec 1922, 4/6: 'Free State Stamp': 'new issue of the 2d. postage stamp for the Irish Free State... a quiet stamp, in which the harmony of the design and the ornamentation of Celtic scrolls and headed outline are well balanced'.
zeal - passionate eagerness in favour of a person or cause; enthusiasm as displayed in action.
postered - described on posters, adorned with posters
postpaid - having the postage prepaid
lounge lizard - a social parasite; a ladies man (man who is very gallant in his attention to women); a parasite in fashionable society in search of a wealthy woman, a gigolo (Slang) [Joyce's note: 'lounge lizards'].
pump room - a room or building where a pump is worked; spec. a place at a spa where the medicinal water is dispensed for drinking, etc. [(notebook 1922-23): 'pump room (spa)'].
nine days wonder - an object or event thet creates a short lived sensation + jeer - a derisive speech or utterance; a scoff, flout.
scratch-cat - humorous epithet for a spiteful person + Prat (ger, dial) - babbling, talk + Pratchen (ger) - story, anecdote + Tratsch (ger) - gossip + praczka (Polish) = prachka (Russian) - laundress, washer-woman.
platschern (ger) - splash + plach (Russian) - crying + pail - a vessel, usually of cylindrical or truncated obconical shape, made of wooden staves hooped with iron, or of sheet-metal, etc., and provided with a bail or hooped handle; used for carrying milk, water, etc.
holen (ger) - fetch + Polen (ger) - Poland + Dom (ger) - cathedral.
Spass (ger) - joke, jollity + ('szp' combination common in Polish).
pisma (Polish) - writings, works, newspapers
zhony (Russian) = żony (Polish) - 'wives'
own eyes + glass - a glass mirror + Owens - brand of American glass + owen (Anglo-Irish) = abhainn (Irish) - river.
azure - the clear blue colour of the unclouded sky + izara (Basque) - star.
twinkling - instant, a rapid flashing motion; scintillation, glimmering.
(notebook 1924): 'Mouthless rivers' + (notebook 1924): 'primitive rivers no mouth'.
impermanent - not permanent or lasting, transient
warming - that makes warm
bondwoman - a female slave
man of the house (Anglo-Irish) - householder, master (from Anglo-Irish fear an tighe)
mormor (Danish) - grandmother
maca mhic (moke vik) (gael) - sons of a son
(one) would give one's eye-teeth - (one) is very eager, or ready to make the greatest sacrifices (to do something) + to give an eye to - to give a share of one's attention to + Matthew 5:38: 'an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth' (also Exodus 21:24).
cadet - the youngest son
prim - a pretty girl + primus (l) - first.
angry + proverb A hungry man, an angry man.