MDMD(8) Notes

[Christine Karatnytsky]

Research covered mostly by Andrew Dinn.  My notes indicated as:  (CK) 
Plot summary and openers to follow later today.

Chris

228.8 `bumbailiffs' OED cites under bum, Hist, in full bumbailiff [so
called as approaching from behind] a bailiff employed in arrests, E17

228.10 `Goblin!' evidently the landlord's dog

228.22 `Namby' "cousin" Ambrose i.e. Maire

229.10 `Cocklefield Fell' Not got a map showing this but I believe the
Jolly Pitman is in Staindrop, not Hurworth.

229.16 `Hum-Strum' |OED has humstrum, Now rare, M18, fr hum + strum, a
roughly made or out of tune musical instrument; a hurdy gurdy.

30.6 `a sort of mental Cilice, perhaps . . . ?' cilice, L16, fr Fr fr
Lat cilicium, fr Gk kilikion = from Cilicia, (a garment of) haircloth

230.29 `clarts' clart, Scots & North L17, origin unknown, A vt 1)
smear or plaster (up)on, only in L17, 2) smear or daub with dirt, E19,
B n 1) sticky dirt, mud, filth; a daub of this, E19, 2) a dirty
person, a nasty thing; hypocritical talk.  Pynchon uses the (still
current) E19 meaning given in B1. Has he picked this up from visiting
the NE rather than via a contemporary dictionary, novel or history.

230.31 `Lancashire Lalande' referring to the `nice lad in Wigan' (230.8)

232.1 `Thornton-le-Beans' yes it's for real, a small village about 20
miles SSE of Hurworth, with neighbours Thornton-le-Moor and
Thornton-le-Street.

232.7 `Translator' Whike translates Lud's incomprehensible
speech. Sounds a bit far-fetched until you hear a NE accent, but the
need for a translator (and another spell from Emerson) is revealed at
the end of the chapter.

234.4 `Dodmen' cf MDMD(7) a dodman is a snail

235.25 `Torpedo' an electric ray (fish) especially one of the genus
torpedo, E16, fr Lat name for same

236.22   "the Assizes"  Sh OED:  The sessions held periodically in each
county of England for the purpose of administering civil and criminal
justice by judges acting under certain special commissions.  (CK)

237.13 `Finial' An architectural term meaning an ornament placed on
the apex of a roof. Also used to describe ornamentation on silverware,
cutlery etc. Not often used to describe a hat but more than apt.

237.22 "Flux"  Sh OED v:  1) to bleed/flow copiously, 2) to make fluid,
3) to become fluid; to melt.  Ma Oafery here uses the word as a noun and
makes her reference to menstruation.  (CK)

238.5 `quaquaversal' E18, fr late Lat quaqua + versus = wheresoever +
turned, chiefly Geol, turned or pointing in every direction

239.11 `Gowks' Originally and chiefly Sc and North, Me, fr ON gaukr
and related to Gm Gauch = cuckoo/fool, A n 1) a cuckoo, ME, 2) a fool;
a half-witted or awkward person, L16, B v stare foolishly, L15

239.17 `wild-cat' this is a chiefly US usage dating from the E19/M19
and rings a bit false to the English ear in this context.

239.20 `gannin straights' gannin is NE dialect for going, so this
means dating. Don't know where the s on the end of straight comes
from, though.

240.2 `grosgrain Ribbon' grosgrain, M19, fr Fr gros + grain = coarse
grain, (made of) any of various heavy, ribbed fabrics, exp silk or
rayon. cf grogram, another word for similar fabric derived from the
same French term.

240.14 `The Lamentations of Jeremiah' One of the books of the Old
Testament, in which Jeremiah laments the decline of pretty much
everything. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations,
and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary. You get
the picture. Beautifully set by Tallis and recorded by the Deller
Consort, by the way.

240.23  "creatures of the Fell"  A moorland ridge, down; a marsh, fen. 
(CK)

241.9 `gawpy Look' from gawp to yawn, gape or stare stupidly or in
astonishment, L17

241.18 `Plummets' LME, fr OFr plommet/plombet dim of plomb = lead, a
ball of lead or other heavy material attached to a line and used for
determining the vertical; a plumb-bob; a plumb-rule.  Also a similar
appliance attached to a quadrant or other scientific instrument, LME.

241.18 `jeweler's Putty' OED has jeweller's putty, aka putty powder, a
powder of tin or lead oxides or of tin and lead oxides, used for
polishing glass or metal.

242.4 `Greenstone' any igneous rock of dark green appearance, esp
cnaining chlorite, epidote, hornblende etc. also = nephrite esp of New
Zealand origin.

242.10 `red Orpiment' orpiment (more fully yellow orpiment), LME, fr
Fr fr Lat auripigmentum = gold pigment arsenic trisulphide, a bright
yellow, monoclinic mineral occurring naturally as prismatic crystals or
(more usually) massive deposits, or made artificially, and formerly
used as a dye and artist's pigment. Red orpiment is another name for
 realgar, LME, med Lat fr Sp rejalgar fr Arab rahj-al-gar, literally
powder of the cave = arsenic, a red monoclinic sulphide of arsenic
that is an important source of tat element and was formerly used as
a pigment and in fireworks, also called red arsenic.

242.10 `Indian lake' a crimson pigment made from stick-lac treated
with alum and alkali. Lake is a general term, a variant of lac,
meaning 1) a purplish red pigment originally obtained from lac later
from cochineal treated with a metallic compound, L17, 2) any pigment
obtained by the combination of an organic coloring matter with a
metallic oxide, hydroxide or salt, spec the insoluble product of a
soluble dye and a mrodant (e.g. alum), L17. Occurs in combinations
such as crimson lake, green lake, Indian lake, madder lake etc.

242.11 `Levigating' M16, fr Lat levigare = to make smooth/polish, 1)
lighten/alleviate, only in M16, 2) make smooth/polish, M16-M19, 3)
reduce to a fine smooth powder; make a smooth paste of (with some
liquid) M16

242.11 `elutriating' M18, fr Lat elutriare = to wash out, decant,
purify by straining; Techn, separate (lighter and heavier) particles
using a flow of liquid or gas.

242.21 `Chapbook' OED has chap-book, E19, fr chap(man) = peddler +
book, Hist a small pamphlet of tales, ballads, tracts etc hawked by a
chapman.

242.31 `Staithemen' OED has staithe, 1) a bank, a shore, OE-ME, 2) a
landing-stage, a wharf, esp a waterside coal depot equipped for
loading vessels, ME, 3) an embankment, LME.

242.32 `Keel' Chiefly Hist, 1) a flat-bottomed boat, esp of a kind
used on the rivers Tyne and Wear in NE England for carrying coal and
loading colliers; a lighter, ME, 2) the quantity of coal carried in a
keel, approx 19.2 tonnes, M18.

243.7 `Keel-Bullies' dial, a member of the crew of a keel, a Tyneside
lighterman.

234.10 `shoots' a sloping channel or conduit down which coal, ore etc
may be conveyed to a lower level, M19.

243.13 `Chester-le-Street' town about 10 miles N of Durham

243.16 `the Spouts upon the Wear' spout, a sloping trough by which
grain, coal etc is discharged from or conveyed to a receptacle; a
chute.

243.17  "collier"  Sh OED:  A ship engaged in the carriage of coal.  (CK)

243.29 `Sea-fret' OED has fret, North, M19, origin unknown, mist or
drizzle coming in off the sea; a sea fog.

243.30 `Pirogues' a general word for a canoe or open boat cf piragua

244.2 `Heer, we'll foy yese in' ??? OED has foy but only as n L15, a
parting entertainment, prsent, or drink, given by or to a person
setting out on a journey.

244.29 `Black-jacks' Hist, a large tar-coated leather jug for beer.

246.21 - 274.1  "Gin's Hogarthian Society"  The reference is to William
Hogarth, satirical painter and caricaturist.  (CK)

247.11 `Gravel' Medic, LME, aggregation of visible calculi (stones) in
the urinary tract; a disease marked by these.

247.25  "Charter'd Companies"  The lord proprietors of England's colonial
trading companies claimed special protections over their incorporated
businesses, extended through their divinely-granted authority, including
permanency of incorporation,  limited liability, and the legal authority
to be free from community and worker interference.  These protections
were initially limited by the American colonists, whose intent in this
area was to create a nation where the citizenry were the government and
the government controlled the corporations--by ensuring that, if a
corporation violated its agreement to obey all laws, to serve the public
good, and to cause no harm, its charter would be REVOKED.  But we all
know what really happened.  [background from "Taking Care of Business:
Citizenship and the Charters of Incorporation"]  (CK)

248.1  `the Pronoun' i.e. Mason's use of `us'

248.30  "Palisado"  Sh OED:  As Palisade (fr. palisade), a fence of pales
or stakes.  (CK)

252.5 `Feluccas' E17, fr It feluc(c)a, prob fr Sp and Arab, a small
vessel propelled by lateen sails or oars, or both, formerly used in
the Mediterranean arwa for coastal transport or trading, and still in
useon rivers, esp the Nile.

252.6 `Eagres' cf MDMD(5?)

252.14 `Janissaries' var of janizary, fr Turk yeniceri = new (yeni) +
troops (ceri) 1) Hist a member of a body of Turkish infantry orig
composed mainly of tributary children of Christians, forming the
Sultan's guard and the main part of the standing army from the 14th to
18th centuries, E16, 2) a devoted follower, supporter or guard, M16,
3) Hist a member of the Turkish armed escort for travellers in the
East, E17.