by James Joyce
og Conservative Catholic paper.
oh 1819; one of Sir Walter Scott’s immensely popular novels.
oi Little man.
oj Anti-Parnellite politicians from Bantry, in the southwest of Ireland.
ok That is, sexual intercourse.
ol Common, working horse.
om King Leopold I of Belgium (1790-1865) was not descended from the House of Flanders.
on Gerald of Wales (c.1146-c.1223); Norman-Welsh author of the earliest accounts of Ireland by a foreigner.
oo A noble and distinguished family (Latin).
op State resulting from a future act (Latin).
oq Testicle.
or Special grammatical form of the plural, denoting just two or a pair.
os As Stephen later realizes, the line is actually “Brightness falls from the air”; it is from a song from Thomas Nashe’s Summer’s Last Will and Testament (1600).
ot John Dowland (1563?-1626) was an English lutist; William Byrd (1543-1623), a composer of church music and madrigals; Thomas Nashe (1567-1601), an English poet.
ou The reference is probably to James I, who took the throne in 1603.
ov Stately dance music.
ow Infected with venereal disease.
ox (1567-1637); Jesuit author who maintained that some “creeping things”—like flies, maggots, and lice—were not created by God.
oy Flagstones.
oz Metal tip.
pa Hotel near St. Stephen’s Green.
pb Allusion to Mark 10:14.
pc In Catholic teaching, unbaptized children go to limbo, not hell.
pd Region bordering on hell set aside for unbaptized children and the righteous who died before the coming of Christ.
pe Straw rope.
pf That is, Sin.
pg Baby stroller.
ph County in central Ireland.
pi Opening motif in Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried (1871).
pj Those who manage rental properties for absentee landlords.
pk Hackney cab drivers.
pl To make one’s confession and receive communion during the Easter season.
pm Matthew 25:41 (Douay version).
pn Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician and philosopher.
po (1568-1591); Italian Jesuit.
pp Jesus said (Matthew 23:27): “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you are like to whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear to men beautiful but within are full of dead men’s bones and of all filthiness” (Douay version).
pq Scoundrel.
pr Partake of the Eucharist.
ps Late-sixteenth- and seventeenth-century period when the practice of Roman Catholicism was strictly proscribed in Ireland.
pt District in southeast Dublin.
pu Popular song.
pv A woman is singing (Latin).
pw The sufferings of Jesus, culminating in His crucifixion.
px Word accented on the second from last syllable.
py A distance of 9 miles through the Dublin mountains, south of the city.
pz (1536-1624); Spanish Jesuit scholar.
qa Arched front of a saddle.
qb Contests between hunting dogs.
qc Elderly parents of John the Baptist; see Luke 1:5-25.
qd John the Baptist’s diet while living in the wilderness.
qe Cloth similar to the one, given to Christ by Saint Veronica on his way to Calvary, on which the image of his face was imprinted.
qf Beheading.
qg Reference to Luke 9:59-60.
qh Blessed Virgin Mary.
qi Maternity hospital.
qj Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), a heretic burned at the stake for his unorthodox views.
qk Rice dish.
ql The casting of lots for Christ’s garments is narrated in Matthew 27:35, Mark
15:24, Luke 23:34, and John 19:24; it is prefigured, as well, in Psalms 21:19.
qm From the poem “William Bond,” by William Blake (1757-1827).
qn Performing arts venue at the north end of Sackville (now O’Connell) Street.
qo British prime minister; he died in May 1898.
qp From a popular song by American songwriter Stephen Foster (1826-1864).
qq Bumpkins.
qr In Shakespeare’s Anthony and Cleopatra (act 2, scene 7), Lepidus says, “Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile.”
qs Chain of Dublin cafés.
qt Tara is a mythological name for Ireland. Holyhead is the Welsh port city across the Irish Sea from Dublin—a common destination for those leaving Ireland.
qu Study to become an attorney.
qv From “He remembers forgotten beauty,” a poem by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939).
qw lndeed, the word appears in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure (act 3, scene 2).
qx Throughout La Vita Nuova (c.1293), Dante seems to have kept his strong feelings for Beatrice in check.
qy That is, Dædalus.
qz Geometrical form created when a parallelogram is removed from the corner of a
larger parallelogram.
ra Geometry textbook based on the work of Euclid (c.300 B.C.).
rb The sin of selling spiritual blessings or pardons.
rc Hot cereal.
rd Technical terms from the distilling trade.
re Member of an esoteric, mystical order.
rf Dry goods: material, clothing, notions (small useful articles).
rg Requiescat in Pace, Latin for “rest in peace.”
rh Brand of snuff, a pulverized form of tobacco for inhaling.
ri Without effect.
rj Institution for the training of Irish priests.
rk Priestly garments.
rl The sacrament of Holy Communion.
rm Modern-day Iran.
rn Cup in which the communion wine is held.
ro Prepared his body for burial according to traditional procedures.
rp Obituary notice that will appear in the Dublin Freeman’s Journal (not “General”).
rq Beef bouillon.
rr Strange.
rs Prayer book.
rt Working-class seaside Dublin neighborhood south of the River Liffey.
ru That is, pneumatic; a malapropism.
rv Inexpensive boys’ magazines.
rw Fabric cover to keep a teapot warm.
rx Here, not a post-secondary institution but a private boys’ preparatory school.
ry Public school; National Schools were less prestigious than the private school the boys in this story attend.
rz Playing hooky.
sa Formerly a fort, now a municipal power plant, on Dublin Bay.
sb Whitened with fine white clay.
sc Tune, melody.
sd Fun.
se Lose his courage.
sf That is, how many times would his hands be beaten with the pandybat, a small club, similar to a blackjack, in which a hard core of whalebone is covered in leather.
sg Fun.
sh The river running west to east through downtown Dublin, dividing it into south and north.
si Commercial stretch of road alongside the river.
sj Another of Dublin’s four rivers.
sk Soft felt hat.
sl Sweethearts, girlfriends.
sm Joyce plays on both the conventional and underground meanings this word carried in turn-of-the-century Ireland: “strange” but also, increasingly, “homosexual.”
sn Simpleton.
so Mounted or scaled.
sp That is, a dead-end street.
sq Inexpensive day schools, run by the volunteers of the Christian Brothers, that emphasized practical learning.
sr Three popular nineteenth-century texts emphasizing, respectively, romance (The Abbott is a novel by Sir Walter Scott), religious devotion, and crime and detection.
ss Reckless running.
st The evening meal.
/> su A popular ballad, often beginning with the phrase “Come all you [Irish men],” etc.
sv Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa (1831-1915), Irish nationalist leader.
sw Cup in which the communion wine is held.
sx Bazaar held to support the Jervis Street Hospital, Dublin, held May 14-19, 1894.
sy Period of withdrawal for the purpose of spiritual reflection and teaching.
sz That is, a convent school.
ta Relating to the secret fraternal order of Free and Accepted Masons, regarded by Catholics as a Protestant sect.
tb Poem by English writer Caroline Sheridan Norton (1808-1877).
tc Café with musical entertainment.
td Serving tray.
te Heavy cotton fabric.
tf Walking stick.
tg Lookout.
th (1647-1690); French nun who was made a saint in 1920; she was instrumental in the establishment of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
ti 1843 opera with music by Irish composer Michael William Balfe (1808-1870), libretto by Alfred Bunn.
tj Steamships serving England and America.
tk Geographical landmark framing the north side of Dublin Bay.
tl Tune, melody.
tm Though some have claimed that this phrase sounds similar to something in Irish, it is probably meant simply as gibberish.
tn North Liffey quayside for eastern departures.
to County Kildare town southeast of Dublin.
tp Village on the south bank of the Liffey.
tq The relationship between the Irish and the French is longstanding; the aid of the French in the unsuccessful 1798 rebellion, led by Wolfe Tone, is but one example.
tr Supporter of Home Rule for Ireland, and of Charles Stewart Parnell.
ts Port city south of Dublin; now known once again by its Irish name, Dun Laoghaire.
tt That is, Trinity College, Dublin (also called the University of Dublin), the Protestant university founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I.
tu Tiny amount.
tv The Bank of Ireland building, across the street from Trinity College; the home of the Irish Parliament before the Act of Union in 1800.
tw St. Stephen’s Green, a public park bordered by the Grafton Street shopping area on the north and University College Dublin on the south.
tx French regimental song dating from the 1790s.
ty That is, IOUs are being used in place of money.
tz Now known as Parnell Square; at the northern end of Sackville (now O’Connell) Street.
ua Raincoat.
ub Exquisite, over-refined.
uc Pub; a licensed premises open to the public, as opposed to a private bar or club.
ud Newspapers with information about the day’s horse racing.
ue Formerly, a familiar landmark and rendezvous point in downtown Dublin.
uf Working-class woman or one of questionable virtue.
ug Rural area southeast of Dublin.
uh Deceit.
ui Large downtown department store.
uj Careful.
uk An insider tip.
ul Seductive young man; similar to a “Don Juan.”
um Fool’s game; futile.
un Working as a prostitute.
uo Horse-drawn hackney coach, or “hack.”
up The Protestant university founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I; also called the University of Dublin.
uq The Kildare Street Club, an exclusive gentleman’s club.
ur From Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies.
us St. Stephen’s Green, a public park bordered by the Grafton Street shopping area on the north and University College Dublin on the south.
ut Steal the advantage from me.
uu Half-past ten.
uv Sheer, often starched, silk netting.
uw At the time, Dublin’s most fashionable hotel, at the north end of St. Stephen’s Green.
ux Fashionable neighborhood to the east of St. Stephen’s Green.
uy The lawn beside the Duke of Leinster’s house, in the same block as the National
Library and the National Museum.
uz Temperance (that is, nonalcoholic) beverages.
va Dublin lingo for “bartenders.”
vb Untidy.
vc That is, 3½ pence.
vd A pub.
ve The South City Market Arcade.
vf On the west side of St. Stephen’s Green.
vg Either a sovereign or half-sovereign.
vh Neighborhood on the northeast side of Dublin.
vi The temperance pledge—that is, to not drink alcohol.
vj Divorce would have been impossible for a Catholic couple in Ireland at this time.
vk Popular seaside holiday destinations.
vl The implication is that Mrs Mooney runs not just a boarding house but a house with some features of a brothel.
vm Terms from horse racing.
vn That is, he is something of a boxer.
vo Risqué music-hall song.
vp Broker between grower and wholesaler.
vq The last, abbreviated Mass at noon on Sunday.
vr “Situation”; job.
vs A good salary.
vt Money in savings.
vu Long, narrow mirror.
vv Weather the criticism.
vw Radical London newspaper.
vx Type of robe.
vy Hot whiskey drink.
vz A British ale.
wa Room for returning empty bottles.
wb An oath strong enough, during this period, that it almost prevented the publication of Dubliners.
wc North Liffey quayside for eastern departures.
wd lmposing building housing legal offices on the north side of the Liffey.
we Reveled.
wf That is, in the Burlington Hotel and Restaurant, previously owned by Thomas
Corless.
wg In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Atalanta is a virginal Greek princess.
wh Member of a movement that attempted to revive traditional Irish language, arts, and culture; Joyce liked to refer to it with the derisive pun “cultic.”
wi Mineral water.
wj Without ice or water.
wk A good situation (job).
wl It oversaw the process of transferring Irish land from former landlords to tenants.
wm Popular seaside holiday destination.
wn Parisian nightclub renowned for its cancan dancers.
wo Prostitutes.
wp Odd.
wq Word of honor (French).
wr Appointment.
ws lrish for “drink of the door”; that is, one for the road.
wt The evening meal.
wu Bewley’s Oriental Café, a downtown Dublin institution.
wv Possibly tortoise shell.
ww Rental, or rent-to-own.
wx From Byron’s “On the Death of a Young Lady” (1802).
wy From the Irish leanbhán (“small child”).
wz Voice tube, an early forerunner of the intercom.
xa O’Neill’s shop is a pub; the snug is a partitioned portion of the counter.
xb Glass of porter, a dark ale.
