Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Lotus Eaters/069

thumb|600px|center|page=72 Annotations dolce far niente5(Italian) pleasant idleness.Gifford (1988) 85. The literal translation of this common Italian expression is sweet doing nothing. Azotes5 Azote is an archaic name for nitrogen, the commonest constituent of the Earth's atmosphere. The French chemist Antoine Lavoisier called this gas azote, from the Greek roots ἀ (a) and ζωή (zōē) meaning not-life, because it could not support life. Most plants, however, require nitrogen, which is probably what Bloom is thinking of. He seems to believe that such plants are called azotes, though I have not found any references to support such a belief.William Benjamin Carpenter, Popular Cyclopaedia of Natural Science (1844), "Animal Physiology", p. 25. ... most plants require the element nitrogen or azote as one of the materials of their growth.... It is possible that he has confused azote with exotic, a plant that is not native to the local ecosystem. Exotics are to be found in the hothouse in Dublin's Botanic Gardens, alluded to by Bloom immediately after azotes. Richard Ellmann referred to such near misses as Bloomisms.Ulysses on the Liffey Ellmann Richard 1984 Faber and Faber Limited London 0-571-13309-6 36 References Annotations to James Joyce's UlyssesPreceding Page | Page Index | Next Page