Difference between revisions of "G"

Latest revision as of 14:03, 27 April 2008

Gage, General
307; gave small-pox-infected blankets to Indians

gahn-on
363; NE dialect: "a mess"; bonny: "good or fine" (reference to Laurel & Hardy)

Galactica
465; milk-maid Nathe McClean fancies

Galena
547; lead sulphide, mineral source of mettalic lead

Galileo (1564-1642)
98; Italian astronomer credited with perfecting the refracting telescope and demonstrating heliocentric orbital movement after observing the moons of Jupiter. "Risking so much for"; Galileo was threatened with torture, and made to publicly recant his theory, by the Catholic Church. He was kept under virtual house arrest until his death. Heliocentric theory remained technically heretical until 1959, when the geocentric model was replaced with the theory of 'Celestial Economy': it is easier to hold the heavens still and spin the Earth than vice versa.

Galuppi, Baldassare (1706-85)
377; Italian composer of 95 operas; a pupil of Lotti, he developed opera buffa style in the period between Scarlatti and Mozart. Immortalized in Robert Browning's poem 'A Toccata of Galuppi's'

Gaming
421; 422

Gamma Draconis
107; a second magnitude star and the brightest star in the constellation was the principal object of measurement used by the British astronomer James Bradley in 1729 in discovering the aberration of light. It is Greenwich's Zenith star; 188; 587

gannin straights
239; aka dating

Gaol
10; Archaic: "Jail"

184; British actor; Garrick and [w.html#woffington">Woffington</a> were amorously linked and lived together from 1742-45. Apparently Woffington never married and the "Mrs." was more along the lines of an honorary title. Although Garrick married in 1749 and remained so until his death there seems some evidence that he retained an attachment to Woffington (e.g. he wore the shoe buckles she gave him until his death). He was also author of the play, Florizel and Perdita, "A Dramatic Pastoral, in Three Acts."; Garrick was also a pupil of Dr. Samuel Johnson and a member of his literary club, along with James Boswell and others. Garrick Quotes; 405

Gastreau, Le
385; mythical master-chef; French spelling of 'gastro' as in 'of the belly'

gawpy Look
241; from gawp: to yawn, gape or stare stupidly or in astonishment, L17c.

Gematria
479; a method of exegesis used by medieval Kabbalists wherein numbers were substituted for letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order to derive new insights into the texts; "a system known to the Kabbalists of the Second Century"; Astral, 772

Geminorum
142

27; 'Geordie' is the regional dialect ('tho some insist it's a distinct language and idiom) most famously associated with the North East of England, although there are some significant variations of this within the region. Also, a Geordie is one who speaks this dialect. The most widely agreed definition of the Geordie 'homeland' covers the cluster of towns that lie on either side of the River Tyne. This includes Newcastle-upon-Tyne through to Whitley Bay on the north bank, and Gateshead through to South Shields on the south. There are some similarities between 'Geordie' and Scandinavian languages, which have their origins in the times of Viking occupation. For example, the phrase 'gan hyem' (go home) is almost identical to the Danish equivalent. The name probably derives from the 1715 Jacobite uprising, when the good citizens of Newcastle refused to support the Scots against King George. Geordie Slang Dictionary; Geordie Translator; Wikipedia entry

There must be some doubt over the insistence in the novel that Dixon is a Geordie, given that he was born and raised in the vicinity of Bishop Auckland, some distance from the Geordie domicile of Tyneside. Two points, however: the restriction of 'Geordieness' to Tyneside may not date back as far the period in which the novel is set; also, Dixon may be using the 'Geordie' tag for convenience. It is doubtful that the fine distinctions of NE English nomenclature would be of much interest to the other characters.

George, The
190; tavern Mason goes to in Stroud; 503; 556; 760

George of England
160; George III (1738-1820) was King of England from 1760 to 1811 when he succumbed to porphyria, a metaboilc imbalance thought at the time to be madness; G. Rex, 423; Toy image of, 548; 572

95; original name of the planet Uranus; 708

Georgie
367

Gerloh, John
576; friend of Tom Hynes

GERMAN
"Sobald das Geld in Kasten Klingt, [. . . ] Die Seele aus dem Fegefeuer springt": "As soon as the coins jingle in the coffer, the soul flies out of Purgatory" 162 - From Martin Luther's 95 Theses; aus dem Kipp, 359

Gershom
276; Geo Washington's black Jewish slave; name-connected to Gershom, Moses' child by Zippora, daughter of Jethro; 278; 572; MORE

Ghastly Fop, The
117; Gothick novel; 178; 347; 457; 527; 767

Ghost-fish
660; in Yochio Geni River; Mason's Journal

Giant Beaver
620

Giants' Caves
218

Gibbon, Mr.
349; his "sort of History"

Gibson
614; veteran of Braddock's defeat

Giuseppe
439; wicked

268; musical instrument consisting of a set of graduated and tuned glass bowls sounded by the friction of wet fingers on the rims. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. His "armonica" consisted of hemispherical glasses suspended on atreadle-operated spindle, overlapping so that only their rims were visible. A trough of water beneath the glasses moistened them as they rotated through it. It spanned four octaves. Mozart composed Adagio und Rondo K 617 and Adagio für Harmonika K 356 for the instrument. Beethoven also composed for it, as well as others; Wikipedia entry; Mr. Franklin's Armonica, 442

Glaucon
282

Glaur
229; lowland Scots for mud. "A fool with his eyes in the glaur" is a Pynchonian way of saying "A man of little foresight." The Northumbld. Gloss, 1893, defined glaur as "liquid mud of the filthiest sort" (per the OED); 339

Gloucester
503; City and borough of southwest-central England on the Severn River, WNW of London. On the site of the Roman city Glevum, it was the Saxon capital of Mercia and is today a market town and industrial center.

Gloucestershire, Holy Wells of
725

Glowing Indian
496

Gluck
272;Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (born 2 July 1714 Erasbach, Upper Palatinate; died 15 November 1787 in Vienna) was a composer of the 18th century, most noted for his operatic works. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years. (Wikipedia)

Gnosis
560; direct experience or knowledge of God

Goblin
228; the landlord's dog

G-d
42; 94; ocean, 123; 134; 137; 138; 164; 190; 220; 229; 344; 356; 357; 361; 422; 429; Heaven and Hell, 482; Eyeh asher Eyeh ("I am what I am") 486; and Moses, 486; disengagement, 486-87 (Deism is the belief that God created the world then disengaged completely from it, exerting no influence on what followed.); 588; 592; 594; "invisible-Handed" 627; 632; 651; 661-62; 675; 680; 708; 721; of the Hollow-Earthers, 740; 747

Golden Valley
207

481; This image endowed with life, in Jewish folklore, in the 16th century acquired the character of protector of the Jews in time of persecution, but also had a frightening aspect. The most famous is the golem created by 16th century rabbi Judah Löw ben Bezulel of Prague; "Jewish Automaton" 485; 684; 711; Automata Web Site

Goniolatry
587; "Worship of Angles"

Gonzago, Mr.
728; room-steward for N. Maskelyne; "Gonzago" is the name of the murdered king in the play-within-a-play in Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Gothick
209; The first Gothick fiction began to show up in the mid-18th century, countering 18th-century "rationalism" with stories of mystery, horror and wonder; the common elements in these stories were madness, revenge, outrage, and the supernatural; slavery as a "Gothick Pursuit" 275; 290; 346; 359; 680; 745

gowks
239; a fool; a half-witted or awkward person; 244

Grail
634

l'Grande
33; the French ship that attacks the Seahorse; 247; 688

Grandam
230

Grant, Captain
49; succeeded Captain Smith on the Seahorse; 51; 85

Gravity
220; local, 249

Graziana
260; pizza-pie tosser in Philadelphia

Great Chain of Being
See Chain of Being, Great

Great Warrior Path
646; Want the fat? Here's the skinny...

Green
722; a subversive colour

Green Pip
369; jealousy

Greenwich
331; in London, site of first English observatory, set up in 1676. Greenwich is on the south bank of the Thames, about a mile east of the city center. Greenwich faces the Isle of Dogs on the north bank, a long peninsula bounded on three sides by a meander of the river.

Gregorians
97; James Gregory (1638-75) was a Scottish mathematician who, in 1661, invented the Gregorian reflecting telescope; Gregorian reflector, 98

Grenville Ministry
277; George Grenville (1712-70) became British prime minister in 1763. The prosecution of Wilkes and the passage of the [s.html#stamp">Stamp Act</A> took place during his ministry. He resigned in 1765.

Grey Hound, The
242; one of Dixon's favoured pubs

Grincheuse, Sister
519; a Jesuit; The French verb "grincer" is used most often in the phrase "grincer les dents" — to grind one's teeth; it can also mean to grit the teeth, as in pain; another meaning is to produce an acute, prolonged, disagreeable sound. "Grincheuse" came into usage in 1844, according to Petit Robert, as a person "d'humeur maussade et reveche" — ill-humored, crude.

Grodt
360; owns farm next to Redzingers

110; street in London, later Milton Street, Moorgate, where many poor and struggling authors lived; it came to symbolize impoverished writers and literary hacks. [j.html#sjohnson">Dr. Samuel Johnson</a> joined the ranks of "Grub Street" in 1737, when he moved to London to ply his trade as a freelance writer; 17

Guarda-Costa
177; Italian: "Coast Guard"

Gyllenborg
272

Gyllenstjerna, Count Johan Greve (1636-80)
272; Swede who was chief advisor to Charles XI. Advocated a strong royal authority and opposition to the nobles of the Council of the Realm.

Gyrfalcons
513; The largest falcon in the world, found in arctic and subarctic regions around the world

References