Can someone translate to everyday English this orgasm of botanical writing?

Cafe Society
1

It’s from the Wake, as it transforms near the end. The first two clauses are a celebration and shocking (even in the Wake!) change of language and register.

I’m interested in the plain text, ie what the hell it means, spelled out to a lay lay reader. I’ve looked up the words, but I’d like to hear how it sounds in a normal narration.

Equally interesting is if any of the bio dudes reading this could comment on

  1. where Joyce is goofing around so much that what he says not just doesn’t make sense, but if something is unnecessary given a true scholarly unserstanding of the process he narrates; and

  2. if the first two clauses would not be written or communicated in the field, or if it did it would provoke laughter (as it does in the Wake), how would it be written for a scholarly audience?
    A spathe of calyptrous glume involucrumines the perinanthean Amenta: fungoalgaceous muscafilicial graminopalmular planteon; of increasing, livivorous, feelful thinkamalinks; luxuriotiating everywhencewithersoever among skullhullows and charnelcysts of a weedwastewoldwevild when Ralph the Retriever ranges to jawrode his knuts knuckles and her theas thighs; onegugulp down of the nauseous forere brarkfarsts oboboomaround and you’re as paint and spickspan as a rainbow; wreathe the bowl to rid the bowel; no runcure, no rank heat, sir; amess in amullium; chlorid cup.

2

I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. The paragraph makes about as much sense if you know the botanical terms as if you don’t; it’s a massively overwrought metaphor with no scientific meaning.

The first clause references multiple types of leaf or leaf-like parts that wrap around or enclose a flower; no plant has all of them, so botanically it’s nonsense. The second is a list of adjectives referencing different kinds of vegetation (basically, “fungus-alga-like, moss-fern-like, grass-palm-like plant-ness”). Most of the terms throughout are made up (from real academically-relevant parts, but not actually used in that form).

If you desperately want to go through word-by-word, Google Books led me to “Joyce’s Book of the Dark: Finnegans Wake”, by John Bishop, which has a relevant passage available.

3

Joyce’s reading of the Voynich Manuscript?

4

I means the sme thing as "“Mimsy were the Borogroves and their slithy toves”

5

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes would be a good introduction to the works of James Joyce.

6

The Bishop is excellent (and frankly I’m surprised at the usual GQ intellectual drift, which left unremarked the general sense of joyous increase/flowering coupled, as is fundamental, pun unintended, in FW, with consumption, breakfast, and the liberating morning crap afterwards.)

To add to the botanical gloss, I’ve just come cross the following, and I can’t trace the original source. Anyway, asking here: does it follow Linneaus correctly? (And while you’re at it, has that particular Linnean tree-branching been changed? FW annotations themselves inevitable bloom anew.)

The annotation to the paragraph in OP has:
the six kinds of flower calyx (i.e. cup [the “chlorid cup” ending the excerpt.–Leo], sepals) according to Linnaeus: spathe (sheathed), calyptre (cowled), glume (dry, husky), involucre (remote from flower, whorled), perianth (combined with corolla), amentum (catkin
OP paragraph repeated for ease of consultation:

A spathe of calyptrous glume involucrumines the perinanthean Amenta: fungoalgaceous muscafilicial graminopalmular planteon; of increasing, livivorous, feelful thinkamalinks; luxuriotiating everywhencewithersoever among skullhullows and charnelcysts of a weedwastewoldwevild when Ralph the Retriever ranges to jawrode his knuts knuckles and her theas thighs; onegugulp down of the nauseous forere brarkfarsts oboboomaround and you’re as paint and spickspan as a rainbow; wreathe the bowl to rid the bowel; no runcure, no rank heat, sir; amess in amullium; chlorid cup.

7

Aren’t Joyce and Lewis Carroll contemporaneous? … I got as far as thinkamalinks… one would never use the adjective feelful to modify that noun in a botanical writing …

It’s nonsense as a literary form …

8

Goodness knows what Mr Bowdler would have made of it.

9

Sorry? Is this actual English, as we speechify it? If so, it is brillig.

10

[QUOTE=watchwolf49]
Aren’t Joyce and Lewis Carroll contemporaneous?
[/QUOTE]

Not really: Carroll died in 1898, when Joyce was 16, so while their lives overlapped their writing careers didn’t.

11

The critical literature on Carrol and FW is quite large, and dates from it’s very first appearance in print in installments, as could be expected.
From the research site fweet.org, a simple search of “Lewis Carrol” (cite): Every line without a “+” sign is the original text, from the Viking edition of FW where the glossed word or phrase appears (the page and line number of the Viking edition are at the left); every line with a “+” sign is a gloss.
Here are some source lines, but obviously their relevance extends beyond their simple implantations. I copied over in the spoiler quotations and glossses from the first 300 or so lines of the book. About twice more can be found in the cite.

004.18 Bygmester Finnegan, of the Stuttering Hand, freemen’s mau-
–004.18+ (Parnell and Lewis Carroll stuttered)
004.28 banks for the livers by the Soangso. He addle liddle phifie Annie
–004.28+ Alice P. Liddell: friend of Lewis Carroll and model for Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
048.04 treacle plaster outrage be liddled! Therewith was released in that
–048.04+ Alice P. Liddell: friend of Lewis Carroll and model for Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
050.26 occasionally cockaded a raffles ticket on his hat which he wore all
–050.26+ (the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is illustrated with a ticket (price tag) attached to his hat)
057.24 have paused before that exposure of him by old Tom Quad, a
–057.24+ photographic exposure (Lewis Carroll was an amateur photographer)
–057.24+ Tom Quad: quadrangle in Christ Church College, Oxford, where Lewis Carroll lived
057.25 flashback in which he sits sated, gowndabout, in clericalease ha-
–057.25+ clerical habit (Lewis Carroll was ordained)
–057.25+ Alice in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass [.28]
057.26 bit, watching bland sol slithe dodgsomely into the nethermore,
–057.26+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass ch. I: ‘Looking-Glass House’: ‘Jabberwocky’: ‘slithy’
–057.26+ Lewis Carroll’s real name C.L. Dodgson
057.28 cheek and the tata of a tiny victorienne, Alys, pressed by his
–057.28+ Alice in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass (lived in Victorian England) [.25]
083.01 when it’s hatter’s hares, mon, for me, to advance you something
–083.01+ Mad Hatter and March Hare: characters in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland [082.36]
106.21 Pimpimp, Measly Ventures of Two Lice and the Fall of Fruit,
–106.21+ Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
113.02 ment of postmantuam glasseries from the lapins and the grigs.
–113.02+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass ch. VI: ‘Humpty Dumpty’: ‘it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word’
115.22 done our unsmiling bit on 'alices, when they were yung and
–115.22+ Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
125.19 one’s half hypothesis of that jabberjaw ape amok the showering
–125.19+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass ch. I: ‘Looking-Glass House’: ‘Jabberwocky’
146.17 Hasaboobrawbees isabeaubel. And because, you pluckless lanka-
–146.17+ Isa Bowman: friend of Lewis Carroll, played title role in an adaptation of Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
148.08 golded silvy, the newest sextones with princess effect. For Rut-
–148.08+ Lewis Carroll: other works: Sylvie and Bruno
152.15 The Mookse and The Gripes.
–152.15+ The Mock Turtle and the Gryphon: characters in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
207.26 roon? Bon a ventura? Malagassy? What had she on, the liddel oud
–207.26+ Alice P. Liddell: friend of Lewis Carroll and model for Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
214.24 gan’s pulse and varicoarse veins, my pramaxle smashed, Alice
–214.24+ Alice Jane Donkin: sister-in-law (and photo model) of Lewis Carroll
226.04 Poor Isa sits a glooming so gleaming in the gloaming; the tin-
–226.04+ Isa Bowman: child-friend of Lewis Carroll and author of Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll [.07]
226.06 Hey, lass! Woefear gleam she so glooming, this pooripathete I
–226.06+ Alice in Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass
226.07 solde? Her beauman’s gone of a cool. Be good enough to symper-
–226.07+ Isa Bowman: child-friend of Lewis Carroll and author of Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll [.04]
–226.07+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 31: (letter from Carroll to Isa Bowman) ‘Oh, you naughty, naughty, bad wicked little girl! You forgot to put a stamp on your letter, and your poor old uncle had to pay TWOPENCE! His last Twopence! Think of that. I shall punish you severely for this when once I get you here. So tremble! Do you hear? Be good enough to tremble!’
226.29 little, a lessle, a lissle. Then rompride round in rout.
–226.29+ Alice P. Liddell: friend of Lewis Carroll and model for Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
227.09 her priest (spt!) she’s pot on a chap (chp!) and this lass not least,
–227.09+ Ch. Ch.: abbreviation for Christ Church frequently used by Lewis Carroll [.14]
227.14 Winnie, Olive and Beatrice, Nelly and Ida, Amy and Rue. Here
–227.14+ children friends of Lewis Carroll: Winnie (Winfred) Stevens, Beatrice Hatch, Beatrice Earle, Nelly Bowman, Amy Hughes
227.19 But vicereversing thereout from those palms of perfection to
–227.19+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 42: (from a diary of Isa Bowman’s visit to Oxford, written by Carroll) ‘In the evening they played at “Reversi”’ (a game in which captured units are turned upside down to show the captor’s colour)
228.16 maxim, ban’s for’s book and Dodgesome Dora for hedgehung
–228.16+ Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
231.05 — My God, alas, that dear olt tumtum home
–231.05+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass ch. I: ‘Looking-Glass House’: ‘Jabberwocky’: ‘the Tumtum tree’
232.21 means the end of my stays in the languish of Tintangle. Is you
–232.21+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 36: (of Isa Bowman in Carroll’s home) ‘one of my stays at Oxford’
234.15 oily with looiscurrals, a soulnetzer by zvesdals priestessd, their
–234.15+ Lewis Carroll
234.18 suessiest sourir ever weanling wore), whiles his host of spritties,
–234.18+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 34: ‘as… his eyes lighted on me with the sweetest smile that ever a man wore, I was conscious of a love and reverence for Charles Dodgson that became nearly an adoration’
234.34 Hymnumber twentynine. O, the singing! Happy little girly-
–234.34+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 6: (of Carroll as a delightful instructor in arithmetics) ‘Happy little girls who had such a master’
235.03 hands. Be it honoured, bow the head. May thine evings e’en be
–235.03+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 3: ‘Forever that voice is still; be it mine to revive some ancient memories of it’
235.28 chuffeur. T will be waiting for uns as I sold U at the first antries.
–235.28+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 71: ‘When we actually got to the Head there was tea waiting in the coastguard’s cottage’
240.36 what chronicles is bringing his portemanteau priamed full potato-
–240.36+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass ch. VI: ‘Humpty Dumpty’: ‘it’s like a portmanteau — there are two meanings packed up into one word’
242.10 at 81. That why all parks up excited about his gunnfodder. That
–242.10+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 51: (from a diary of Isa Bowman’s visit to Oxford, written by Carroll) ‘“parks” of guns: that is, great rows of cannons, which stood there when King Charles the First was in Oxford, and Oliver Cromwell fighting against him’
242.14 a trial by julias, in celestial sunhat, with two purses agitatating
–242.14+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 36: (of Carroll) ‘the two purses that he carried’
–242.14+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 34: (of Carroll) ‘He was very particular about his tea, which he always made himself, and in order that it should draw properly he would walk about the room swinging the tea-pot from side to side for exactly ten minutes’
242.15 his theopot with wokklebout shake, rather incoherend, from one
–242.15+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 7: (of Carroll) ‘always seemed a little unsteady in his gait’
242.18 and twainty in the shade. Old grand tuttut toucher up of young
–242.18+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 10: (of Carroll) ‘he found it impossible to avoid stammering in his speech’
–242.18+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 15: (of Carroll) ‘he had been himself a great amateur photographer… He always said that modern professional photographers spoilt all their pictures by touching them up absurdly to flatter the sitter’
242.19 poetographies and he turn aroundabrupth red altfrumpishly like
–242.19+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 18: (of Carroll seeing Isa Bowman drawing a caricature of him) ‘suddenly he turned round and saw what I was doing. He got up from his seat and turned very red, frightening me very much. Then he took my poor little drawing, and tearing it into small pieces threw it into the fire without a word’
–242.19+ Bowman: The Story of Lewis Carroll 11: (of Carroll) ‘in the society of people of maturer age he was almost old-maidishly prim in his manner’
249.27 nobody loves me but you. Ugh. Ugh.
–249.27+ Uggug: villain in Lewis Carroll: other works: Sylvie and Bruno
258.24 tweedledeedumms down to twiddledeedees.
–258.24+ Tweedledum and Tweedledee: characters in Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass
268.14 on solfa sofa.4 Stew of the evening, booksyful
–268.14+ Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ch. X: ‘The Lobster Quadrille’: ‘Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!’
270.20 Wonderlawn’s lost us for ever. Alis, alas, she
–270.20+ Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
270.21 broke the glass! Liddell lokker through the
–270.21+ Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass
–270.21+ Alice P. Liddell: friend of Lewis Carroll and model for Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
276.F12 7 A liss in hunterland.
–276.F12+ Lewis Carroll: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
277.14 rerising and a white night high with a cows of
–277.14+ The White Knight: character in Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass
294.07 One of the most murmurable loose carollaries
–294.07+ Lewis Carroll
294.08 ever Ellis threw his cookingclass. With Olaf
–294.08+ Alice in Lewis Carroll: Through the Looking-Glass

12

Since the botanical question has been answered - the passage has no real scientific meaning, but is just a nonsense mixture of botanical terms - this now becomes a literary topic. Let’s move this to Cafe Society.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

13

It says to me that the plant is a weed that grows where the dog’s procreate,
and its an excellent laxative … spick span and bleached clean.

If somehow the weed is a metaphore defined elsewhere in the book, then the laxative may be mataphorical.
I think you just use the scientific sounding terms for the first thought that comes into your head as to what it means in his imagery.

Between the lines, I think it says “the author has gone totally mad by this part of the book …the jokes on you …for reading this far !”
Isn’t that ironic - the chemical laxative may be a metaphore for a mental laxative… he’s saying he’s sane now ?

14

The “precise” description of the weed implies that its a perculiar looking weed with all these weird features and properties. When you go down between a road and a waterway, dodging piles of various waste, and there’s a range of weeds many of which you couldn’t name and any info you found was highly scientific… that weed

15

The moral of the story is - never use the speech-to-text dictation app when you are drunk. Especially if you also have an Irish accent.

16

Or Scots: Can someone translate to everyday English this orgasm of botanical writing? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board

17

Oh … that weed … now it all makes perfect sense …

18

There’s really no valid reason to include the word “good” in a sentence about Hans Christian Anderson, unless it also includes the word “riddance.”

19

Comment gold.

20

I no longer have a copy, but there’s always Joseph Campbell’s A Skeleton Key To Finnegans Wake that may have a clue.