introduction plus mysterious rifle

[umberto rossi]

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night everybody,

I am a new listmember. This is just to let you know I am here and my 
name and email address will tell you that I am Italian. There is 
something like an Italian Pynchonite--or better, there's many. Not 
millions, but thousands. We also write books on Pynchon sometime.

I wonder if other fellow countrymen and -women take part to the 
discussion or lurk. Saluto anche loro.

And here is my first question, which deals with one of Pynchon's 
cruces--a small one, but something which has been puzzling me for a 
couple of months at least.

It's the matter of the "sterloop". Obviously I am talking about M&D, 
and I know that the issue has been already discussed here (in 2001), 
because I have searched the online archives of the list. I found two 
explanation of the strange name of this weapon (it appears in the 
novel at pages 101 and 342): 

1. according to one listmember it is one of those funny and poetic 
names TRP often invents, made up by ster (star) plus loop (barrel, 
but also course, career, etc.) -- so the name of the rifle used by 
Boers in Cape Town (Kapstaad) hints at the mark on the barrel (a 
star, often inverted) and the movement of stars (which, in a novel 
which often deals with Venus and its movement is quite easy to 
understand);

2. according to another, Boers used to name their rifles (especially 
hunting rifles), and "Sterloop" was one of the names mentioned by a 
nostalgic Boer on a website with questionable political leanings, 
quoted in the message I found in the archives. This should mean that 
"sterloop" is a word in Afrikaans, and I wonder what it might mean.

Now comes the last part of my ongoing research; Google allowed me to 
spot several webpages with the word sterloop--they were in Dutch or 
Afrikaans (I am afraid I couldn't tell the difference), and 
apparently they dealt with sport events and martial arts. Now, what I 
need is some Dutch-speaking or -reading listmember that may help me 
with this. You can contact me offlist if you prefer.

Thank you a lot, 

umberto rossi
___________________

		"A mulatto
		An albino
		A mosquito
		My libido"