NPPF: Commentary 5 (notes) Lines 433-434

[Jasper Fidget]

> From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
> Behalf Of bekah

> 
> **  Disa, Duchess of Payn. Payn is incredible Pain, so Disa is the Duchess
> of Pain. She is truly a very unhappy woman. Exiled to the Villa by her
> husband. (line130)
> 
> Disa is a girl's name which means twice or double in Greek. But in Norse
> it means spirited.  I'll go with the Greek for Nabakov although she did
> seem to be both.
> 


PF has lots of references to Norse etymologies, so I wouldn't be surprised
if VN had both in mind.  For "Dis," there's also:

(Greek) The shining one; an older form of Zeus.

(Icelandic) Sister; in Norse myths an attendant spirit or constant
companion. Possibly the astral double of a living entity for when one's dis
is absent, it presages death.

(Latin) [contraction of dives rich] Name for Pluto, god of the underworld.
The expression "rich" arises in the fact that the presiding deity of the
underworld gathers in through the rolling ages whatever is, thus implying a
constantly accumulating store of all things that once were, but now belong
to the past. There is a distinct mystical similarity between the Greek and
Latin Dis.

(Sanskrit) [from the verbal root dis to show, point out, direct] A direction
or point of space, a cardinal point or quarter; the four cardinal points:
prachi (east); dakshina (south); pratichi (west); and udichi (north). The
noun disa likewise means direction, region, quarter, or point of space.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/dis-dz.htm

OED has "dis" as a colloquial abbreviation for "disconnected," meaning
"Broken, not working; fig. weak in the head."

OED also sez of "dis-" the prefix: 

"In words adopted from French and Latin with the sense 'apart, away,
asunder, abroad'

In words adopted from French and Latin with privative force, as
disadvantage, disagree, disease, disgrace, displease, dissuade, etc. Also as
a freely productive prefix with privative force (occas. replacing earlier
mis-, as in dislike) forming (a) verbs from verbs (with their derivative
nouns, adjectives, etc.) with the sense 'reverse, undo', as disestablish,
disown, etc.; (b) verbs from nouns with the senses 'strip of, free, rid of',
as disfrock, dispeople, etc., 'deprive of the character, title, etc. of', as
disbishop, dischurch, etc., 'expel from', as disbar, disbench, etc., 'undo,
spoil', as discomplexion; (c) verbs from adjectives with the sense 'undo,
reverse the quality denoted', as disable etc.; (d) nouns from nouns with the
sense 'the absence or opposite of the state, quality, etc., in question', as
in dishonour etc.; (e) adjectives from adjectives with negative force, as
dishonest etc.

In words adopted from French and Latin with intensive force 'utterly' with
words already implying reversal or removal, as disannul, disturb, etc., and
occas. in words formed in English after these, as disembowel, disgruntled,
etc."

And finally, of the multitude of words with dis- prefixes, this one stands
out in the context: "disattention -- noun -- lack of attention, neglect."

Jasper Fidget