(urth) lots of stuff
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Mon Jul 12 18:32:44 PDT 2010
Wow. I knew "inire" but I did not know "finire." That's plenty of
solution for me.
But I agree that these are not "real" names. Inire probably has his own
name, which we don't know.
James Wynn wrote:
> Well, I'm the guy who argues that the word "inhuma" comes from a
> complex and multi-layered word association with the name "Dionysus",
> so swim at your own risk. Puns are a tricky thing to emphatically
> prove, I know from experience. Usually, the punned terms and names
> have a ready casual association as well. But Inire is another matter.
> In answer to your question, I can't think of another instance in which
> Wolfe breaks his established naming precedents so emphatically...and
> well...*badly*. So I say Inire's singularity is part of the argument
> FOR a word game in this instance.
>
> The hierodules Ossipago, Barbatus, and Famulimus are named after minor
> divine beings or, in Ossipago's case, a minor name for Hera. They are
> not named for saints (except in that saints are often Christianized
> minor divinities). It is not unreasonable to expect that Inire would
> be named for a minor god as well. What if "Father Inire" is a
> malformation of the actual name he gave...a name that was difficult
> for those whom he first encountered to pronounce or even hear
> properly. That would explain why he is the only one with the title
> "Father": When he said "Fenrir", they heard "Father Inire" or that was
> an approximation they chose. Just as Horn named his new girlfriend
> "Seawrack" because it was close to the foreign sounding name she gave.
> And, as with O,B, & F, "Fenrir" would be a name that suites Inire's
> role--not in nurturing Severian as they do--but something more final:
> bringing the New Sun and the end of Urth. I guess Fenrir isn't the
> only possible option but it certainly fits the bill. And Fenrir's
> actions are also associated with the name they gave him: the the Latin
> "finire", meaning "to end".
>
>
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