Array Коллектив авторов - 20 лучших повестей на английском / 20 Best Short Novels

delusion – a false opinion that may be a symptom of madness

Metz – a city in northeastern France; it was founded by a Gallic tribe and later fortified by the Romans

the River Moselle – a river in northeastern France and western Germany, a tributary of the Rhine River

Moselle wine – famous wine produced in Germany from the vineyards on the banks of the Moselle River

lunatic asylum – a mental hospital for the care and treatment of mental patients

delirium – mental excitement during illness (usually fever) accompanied by senseless, incoherent speech

pâté= paste

demon – a wicked or cruel spirit or supernatural creature

Bombay – now Mumbai, a large city in southwestern India, India’s commercial, financial and religious centre, the main port on the Arabic Sea

Candahar – Kandahar, a city in south-central Afghanistan on the way to India; the city has a long history of wars and conquests

the Berkshires – soldiers from the county of Berkshire

Ghazis – hist. warriors for the Islamic faith

Peshawur – a city and capital of province in northern Pakistan

Portsmouth – a city on the English Channel, in the historic county of Hampshire

Barts – Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital, the oldest hospital in London founded in 1123

By Jove! – an exclamation of surprise

Thomas Carlyle(1795–1881) – a famous British historian and essayist

the Copernican Theory – the heliocentric or Sun-centred system; Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) was a Polish astronomer who said that the Sun is a fixed point, and the Earth and other planets orbit the Sun

belladonna – a drug made from a poisonous plant of the same name

opium – a narcotic drug made from poppy and used to relieve pain

Mendelssohn – Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847), a German composer, conductor and pianist of the Romantic period

Lieder – songs ( German )

Euclid(the 2nd century BC) – an outstanding Greek mathematician of the antique period who is best known for his works in geometry

Niagara – the Niagara River flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario on the USA-Canadian frontier; the Niagara Falls lie on the border between Ontario, Canada and New York state

deduction – a conclusion made in the process of reasoning from the general to the particular

chimerical – unreal; from chimera – a horrible creature of imagination, or some impossible idea or fancy

Edgar Allan Poe(1809–1849) – an American writer and poet who is best known as the author of tales of horror and detective stories

Gaboriau – Émile Gaboriau (1833–1873), a French novelist, the father of the detective novel

Cleveland – a city and port in northeastern Ohio, the USA, on the southern shore of Lake Erie

Ohio – a state in the Middle West of the USA

status quo – the situation as it is now

Cremona – a city in northern Italy, southwest of Milan, founded in 218 BC by the Romans; the city is famous for its school of violin making

Stradivarius – Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737), a famous Italian violin maker whose violins are still considered the best

Amati – a family of famous Italian violin makers in Cremona in the 16th-17th centuries; Nicolo Amati was the teacher of Stradivari.

cataract – a disease of the eye; the illus at eye

Utrecht – a city in the central Netherlands

masonic – related to masons, a worldwide esoteric brotherhood; their teaching includes ancient wisdom, mysticism and religious beliefs of the past

Boccaccio – Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), an Italian writer and poet of the early Renaissance period, the author of the famous ‘Decameron’

Decameron – a book of tales written by Boccaccio in about 1350, a masterpiece of early Italian prose

(the) Strand – one of the main streets in central London, between the West End and the City

Trichinopoly – a city in southeastern India

Parthian shot – idiom smth. said or done as a final reply at parting

Halle – Sir Charles Halle (1819–1895), a British pianist and conductor of German origin, the founder of the famous Halle Orchestra

Chopin – Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), a famous Polish-French pianist and composer of the Romantic period

Darwin – Charles Darwin (1809–1882), an English naturalist and biologist, the author of the theory of evolution

Liege – a city in eastern Belgium; the place was inhabited in prehistoric times, and in 721, Liege became a town.

Houndsditch – a street west of the East End of London

ulster – a long overcoat with a belt

cravat – folded linen worn as a tie

Henri Murger(1822–1861) – a French novelist and poet who depicted the bohemian life in Paris and himself was a part of it

Vehmgericht – a Vehmic court, a medieval law tribunal

aqua tofana – a poisonous drink without colour, smell or taste

Carbonari – members of the Carbonaria, an Italian secret society of the 19th century, advocating patriotic ideas and fighting for freedom and unification of Italy

the Marchioness de Brinvilliers(1630–1676) – a French noblewoman who poisoned several members of her family and was executed for the crime