Владимир Набоков: Ada, or Ador: A Family Chronicle

p.188. Lyovka: derogative or folksy diminutive of Lyov (Leo).

p.191. antranou etc.: Russian mispronunciation of Fr. entre nous soit dit, between you and me.

p.191. filius aqua: ‘son of water’, bad pun on filum aquae, the middle way, ‘the thread of the stream’.

p.192. une petite juive etc.: a very aristocratic little Jewess.

p.192. ça va: it goes.

p.192. seins durs: mispronunciation of sans dire ‘without saying’.

p.193. passe encore: may still pass muster.

p.195. Lorsque etc.: When her fiancé had gone to war, the unfortunate and noble maiden closed her piano, sold her elephant.

p.195. Klubsessel: Germ., easy chair.

p.194. By chance preserved: The verses are by chance preserved

I have them, here they are:

(Eugene Onegin, Six: XXI: 1–2)

p.196. devant les gens: in front of the servants.

p.196. Fanny Price: the heroine of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

p.196. grib: Russ., mushroom.

p.196. vodochki: Russ., pl. of vodochka, diminutive of vodka.

p.198. zakusochnïy etc.: Russ., table with hors-d’oeuvres.

p.198. petits soupers: intimate suppers.

p.198. Persty: Evidently Pushkin’s vinograd:

as elongated and transparent

as are the fingers of a girl.

(devï molodoy, jeune fille)

p.198. ciel-étoilé: starry sky.

p.201. ne pïkhtite: Russ., do not wheeze.

p.202. vous me comblez: you overwhelm me with kindness.

p.202. pravda: Russ., it’s true.

p.202. gelinotte: hazel-hen.

p.203. le feu etc.: the so delicate fire of virginity

that on her brow…

p.203. po razschyotu po moemu: an allusion to Famusov (in Griboedov’s Gore ot uma), calculating the pregnancy of a lady friend.

p.203. protestuyu: Russ., I protest.

p.203. seriozno: Russ., seriously.

p.203. quoi que ce soit: whatever it might be.

p.203. en accuse etc.:…brings out its beauty.

p.203. certicle: anagram of ‘electric’.

p.204. Tetrastes etc.: Latin name of the imaginary ‘Peterson’s Grouse’ from Wind River Range, Wyo.

p.205. Great good man: a phrase that Winston Churchill, the British politician, enthusiastically applied to Stalin.

p.205. voulu: intentional.

p.206. echt etc.: Germ., a genuine German.

p.207. Kegelkugel: Germ., skittle-ball.

p.207. partir etc.: to go away is to die a little, and to die is to go a way a little too much.

p.208. tangelo: a cross between the tangerine and the pomelo (grapefruit).

p.208. fal’shivo: Russ., false.

p.209. rozï… beryozï: Russ., roses… birches.

p.210. ou comme ça?: or like that?

p.213. sale etc.: dirty little Philistine.

p.213. d’accord: Okay.

p.214. zhe etc.: Russ., distortion of je t’en prie.

p.215. Trigorin etc.: a reference to a scene in The Seagull.

p.215. Houssaie: French a ‘hollywood’. Gollivud-tozh means in Russian ‘known also as Hollywood’.

p.216. enfin: at last.

p.217. passati: pseudo-Russian pun on ‘pass water’.

p.217. coeur de boeuf: bull’s heart (in shape).

p.219. quand tu voudras etc.: any time, my lad.

p.220. la maudite etc.: the confounded (governess).

p.220. vos etc.: Franco-Russ., your expressions are rather free.

p.221. qui tâchait etc.: who was trying to turn her head.

p.222. ombres etc.: shadows and colors.

p.226. qu’on la coiffe etc.: to have her hair done in the open.

p.226. un air entendu: a knowing look.

p.228. ne sais quand etc.: knows not when he’ll come back.

p.229. mon beau page: my pretty page.

p.231. c’est ma dernière: this is my last night in the manor.

p.231. je suis etc.: I’m yours, it’s soon dawn.

p.231. parlez pour vous: speak for yourself.

p.232. immonde: unspeakable.

p.232. il la mangeait etc.: he devoured her with disgusting kisses.

p.234. qu’on vous culbute: that they tumble you.

p.237. marais noir: black tide.

p.240. j’ai des ennuis: I have worries.

p.240. topinambour: tuber of the girasole; pun on ‘pun’ (‘calembour’).

p.240. on n’est pas etc: what scurvy behavior.

p.241. Tapper: ‘Wild Violet’, as well as ‘Birdfoot’ (p.242), reflects the ‘pansy’ character of Van’s adversary and of the two seconds.

p.242. Rafin, Esq.: pun on ‘Rafinesque’, after whom a violet is named.

p.242. Do-Re-La: ‘Ladore’ musically jumbled.

p.244. partie etc.: picnic.

p.246. palata: Russ., ward.

p.248. tvoyu mat’: Russ., ‘Thy mother’: the end of a popular Russian oath.

p.249. Ich bin etc.: Germ., I’m an incorrigible joker.

p.251. uncle: ‘my uncle has most honest principles’.

(Eug. Onegin, One: I:1)

p.255. encore un etc.: one more ‘baby ghost’ (pun).

p.257. the last paragraph of Part One imitates, in significant brevity of intonation (as if spoken by an outside voice), a famous Tolstoyan ending, with Van in the role of Kitty Lyovin.

p.260. poule: tart.

p.260. komsi etc.: comme-ci comme-ça in Russ. mispronunciation: so-so.

p.260. mestechko: Russ., little place.

p.260. bateau ivre: ‘sottish ship’, title of Rimbaud’s poem here used instead of ‘ship of fools’.

p.261. poshlïy: Russ., vulgar.

p.262. da: Russ., yes.

p.262. ce qui etc.: which amounts to the same thing.

p.263. maux: aches.

p.263. aril: coating of certain seeds.

p.263. Grant etc.: Jules Verne in Captain Grant’s Children has ‘agonie’ (in a discovered message) turn out to be part of ‘Patagonie’.

p.266. Cyraniana: allusion to Cyrano de Bergerac’s Histoire comique des Etats de la Lune.

p.266. Nekto: Russ., quidam.

p.266. romanchik: Russ., novelette.

p.267. Sig Leymanski: anagram of the name of a waggish British novelist keenly interested in physics fiction.

p.269. Abencerage, Zegris: Families of Granada Moors (their feud inspired Chateaubriand).

p.271. fille de joie: whore.

p.275. maison close: brothel.

p.276. vyshibala: Russ., bouncer.

p.277. Künstlerpostkarte: Germ., art picture postcards.

p.278. la gosse: the little girl.

p.279. subsidunt etc.: mountains subside and heights deteriorate.

p.281. smorchiama: let us snuff out the candle.

p.283. Marmlad in Dickens: or rather Marmeladov in Dostoevsky, whom Dickens (in translation) greatly influenced.

p.284. frôlements: light touchings.

p.286. sturb: pun on Germ. sterben, to die.

p.288. qui prend etc.: that takes wing.

p.288. all our old etc.: Swinburne.

p.288. Larousse: pun: rousse, ‘redhair’ in French.

p.289. pourtant: yet.

p.289. cesse: cease.

p.289. Glanz: Germ., luster.

p.290. Mädel: Germ., girl.

p.290. vsyo sdelali: Russ., had done everything.

p.292. relanced: from Fr. relancer, to go after.