Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Oxen of the Sun/386

thumb|600px|center|page=389 Annotations marchand de capotes5(French) cloak merchant. But capote is also slang for condom, which provides the subtext of Alec Bannon's remarks.Capote livre5(French) pound. The livre was an obsolete French coin originally representing the value of a pound of silver. By the time it was replaced by the franc, its value had dropped to less than that of five grammes of silver, or a little less than that of one franc. The word is now used to designate a pound Sterling.Livre Le Fécondateur5(French) The Fertilizer, or The Impregnator. Should this term be in italics? avec lui5(French) with him. ventre biche5(French) A coarse oath. In French, ventre de Dieu (God's belly!) is an archaic oath. In order to avoid taking the holy name in vain, Dieu was either suppressed altogether or replaced with an innocuous word: Ventre! (Belly!), Ventre de loup! (Wolf's belly!), Ventre de boeuf! (Bull's belly!), Ventre de biche! (Doe's belly!). Ventre de biche is always the name of a colour (reddish-white, or a light beige). I have not come across Joyce's contraction of ventre de biche, which may be an error.Ventre, Ventre sans blague5(French) no kidding. il y a deux choses5(French) there are two things. References Annotations to James Joyce's UlyssesPreceding Page | Page Index | Next Page