Terry Pratchett - Carpe Jugulum

The name ‘Magpyr’ puns both on magpie and Magyar, an equestrian tribe who settled in what is now Hungary and parts of Romania during the 9th century. Dracula would have been a Magyar. Nowadays, the word is more or less synonymous with ‘Hungarian’.

This spelling has a very old pedigree, but has become a hallmark of certain modern-day vampire fans who, like the Count, want to distance themselves from traditional beliefs about vampires. I blame Anne Rice.

‘Lacrimosa’ is Latin for ‘tearful one’, which seems appropriate to Lacci’s whiney personality. It’s also the first word of the traditional Latin requiem mass:

Which translates approximately to:

Willow bark contains aspirin.

The hero of the cult horror parody Evil Dead II has a similar problem, which he eventually resolves by cutting off his own hand; this scene could well be partly inspired by the film.

Later in the book, it appears that gnomes and pixies are the same thing, but Vlad seems to think differently.

As Agnes and Nanny go on to discuss, there are many different counting rhymes for magpies, but they generally agree that a single magpie is unlucky. Some people believe that one can avert the bad luck by being polite, or even downright flattering, to the magpie in this manner.

The rhyme Agnes repeats over the next few pages is similar to the one Mike learned as a child:

Nanny’s version seems closer to the Scots version given in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable :

— although Nanny’s also varies noticeably from this, which just goes to prove what she says about there being lots of different rhymes.

In Romanian, ‘strigoi’ or ‘strigoiaca’ is the modern form of the ancient Roman ‘stryx’, a type of shape-changing, bloodsucking witch. ‘Krvopijac’ is either Bulgarian or Croatian for ‘blood-drinker’.

Every year, towards the end of October, the first press of the year’s Beaujolais wine is marketed as ‘Beaujolais nouveau’, announced with the slogan ‘Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrive.’ The wine is generally quite strong, both in alcohol content and flavour, and not highly regarded by connoisseurs. After a few months it becomes undrinkable, owing to the accelerated fermentation process.

In Pyramids , the Djelibeybian high priest Dios had a staff with two serpents entwined around it — possibly the same symbol. There are at least three distinct theories about why holy symbols repel vampires. The Catholic theory is that the repelling force is the faith of the holder, and the symbol merely focuses that faith — so a symbol on its own, or in the hands of a non-believer, is useless. (This has produced some interesting interpretations of what a ‘holy symbol’ could be — one film shows a yuppie repelling a vampire with his wallet.) The Orthodox theory is that faith is irrelevant — it’s God who is performing the miracle, not the wielder. The psychological theory, which Terry seems to be subscribing to here, is that the effect is entirely in the mind of the vampire.

Exodus 22:18: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” It is often suggested that the Hebrew word used here should be translated ‘poisoner’, but the case for this is unconvincing and based mainly on the flawed Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint. Modern translations of the Bible still say ‘witch’.

This is slightly reminiscent of the Biblical story of Balaam’s ass (Numbers 22:1-41).

The description may be modelled on ‘Emu’, property of Rod Hull; their double act was very popular on UK TV in the 1970s.

Mr Punch is the lead character in a Punch-and-Judy show, a traditional British children’s entertainment featuring theft, extreme violence, wife-beating and multiple murders, using glove puppets. The performer would use a special throat-whistle, called a swozzle, to produce the character’s squeaky voice. See also the Discworld short story Theatre of Cruelty .

‘Ich Bin Ein Rattarsedschwein’ means ‘I am a Drunken Pig’, rat-arsed being British slang for very drunk. The Student Horse refers to The Student Prince , an operetta by Romberg about a prince who studies at Heidelberg and falls for a barmaid. In the film, allegedly, Mario Lanza was supposed to play the part of the prince, but got too fat, so his voice is just dubbed over the lead actor’s when singing. Songs include the ‘Drinking Song’ and the unfortunately titled ‘Come Boys, Let’s All Be Gay Boys’.

The original ‘Soapy Sam’ was Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford from 1845 to 1869, best remembered today for his diehard opposition to the theory of evolution. The name is occasionally applied today as a generic insult to any churchman who holds an opinion contrary to one’s own.

Terry is here parodying, but not even slightly exaggerating, the bewildering variety of ways of dealing with vampires in earth mythology. To give a taste of how abstruse these beliefs could become, here is a quotation from the alt.vampyres FAQ (held on www.altvampyres.net:

“Some Gypsies in Kosova once believed that a brother and sister born together as twins on a Saturday could see a vampiric mulo if they wore their underwear and shirts inside out. The mulo would flee as soon as it was seen by the twins.”

Escrow is a legal term for a formal contract or agreement to do something, where the document is held by a trusted third party until its conditions are satisfied.

One of the very first positive-thinking mantras, coined by Emile Coue (1857–1926), French psychotherapist and pharmacist. Coue’s study of hypnotism convinced him that auto-suggestion could cure anything.

A famous quotation from Nietzsche: “If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” (From Beyond Good and Evil .)

Agnes is imitating Lara Croft, hero of the hugely successful Tomb Raider series of video games. Terry admits to being a Lara fan.

There’s a cave in Somerset, near where Terry lives, with a similar feature outside it.

The Discworld version of Achilles, who was invincible except for a small spot on his heel.

Puns on ‘pixie’ and ‘Picts’ (inhabitants of Scotland in Iron Age times).