namelessness

[Mark Kohut]

  "the wilderness Creature that feeds on all other creatures"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/thumb/c/c1/Simpsons_food_chain.jpg/200px-Simpsons_food_chain.jpg

Cf. ...

"'In part of Russia where I grew up,' Captain Padshnitoff was able to
say at last, 'all animals, no matter how large or dangerous, had
names--bears, wolves, Siberian tigers....  All except for one.  One
creature that other animals, including humans, were afraid of, because
if it found them it would eat them, without necessarily killing them
first.  It appreciated pain.  Pain was like ... salt.  Spices.  That
creature, we did not have a name for.  Ever.  Do you understand?'"
(AtD, Pt. II, p. 124)

Linguists cite Padzhitnoff's error as their favorite example of a
taboo. Some time in the remote past, the name of the bear—derived
from
an Indo-European word like arktos or rktos—became unspeakable and was
replaced, in Russian, by the euphemism "honey-eater": medved'. It
happened so long ago that speakers of the language think this is the
native word. Same in English; ours comes from an old word for "brown."

   
  I do not understand what the "linguistic error' the wikiean refers to, does anyone?
   
  I'd play with other layers of meaning.....such as the tradition that G*D is the Being we cannot name? (but doesn't seem right unless P's satire here is beyond beyond)...   Beckett's Unnameable...and Frankenstein, the creature which has no name (in the novel)
   
    Frankenstein's monster (or Frankenstein's creature) is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. In the novel, the creature has no name—a symbol of his parentlessness and lack of human sense of self and identity. He does call himself, when speaking to his creator, Victor Frankenstein, the "Adam of your labours". He is also variously referred to as a "creature," "fiend," "the dæmon," "wretch," "zombie," "devil," "being," and "ogre" in the novel.[1] He is sometimes erroneously referred to as Frankenstein.   wikipedia
   
  Frankenstein as a nameless creature that devours all in the wilderness..........when we think
  how Frankenstein has become a name for the monster of technology........kinda fits..?????yes

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  "the wilderness Creature that feeds on all other creatures"



Cf. ...

"'In part of Russia where I grew up,' Captain Padshnitoff was able to
say at last, 'all animals, no matter how large or dangerous, had
names--bears, wolves, Siberian tigers....  All except for one.  One
creature that other animals, including humans, were afraid of, because
if it found them it would eat them, without necessarily killing them
first.  It appreciated pain.  Pain was like ... salt.  Spices.  That
creature, we did not have a name for.  Ever.  Do you understand?'"
(AtD, Pt. II, p. 124)

Linguists cite Padzhitnoff's error as their favorite example of a
taboo. Some time in the remote past, the name of the bear—derived
from
an Indo-European word like arktos or rktos—became unspeakable and was
replaced, in Russian, by the euphemism "honey-eater": medved'. It
happened so long ago that speakers of the language think this is the
native word. Same in English; ours comes from an old word for "brown."


       
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