Nunce

From FinnegansWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
  • nonce: the present; a particular occasion
    • for the nonce: (1) for the time being; (2) a meaningless tag used in Middle English poetry for purposes of rhyme and metre
    • nonce word: a word coined for one particular occasion only
  • Hebrew letter nun, meaning fish. In Qabalah it's Atu XIII, Death.
  • NunceNun
    • In Egyptian mythology, Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") is the deification of the primordial watery abyss. In the Ogdoad cosmogony, the name nu means "abyss".
    • "Occasionally the "ocean" (literally "the Great Green") is obese like the Nile, as though he brought fertility; once his spouse likewise is Mu(u)t, or Mu(i)t. Usually, ever, he is identified with Nuu (or Nûn?), the god of the abyss. Originally the latter represented not only the dark, unfathomable waters which flow under the earth and can be reached in the south, i. e. at the source of the Nile, but also their continuation which surrounds the world as the all-encircling ocean; the ends of the ocean, disappearing in darkness and endless space, lead back to the subterranean waters. These abysmal floods represent the primeval matter from which all the deities arose, so that their personification, Nuu, is called the oldest and wisest god, who existed "when there was no heaven and no earth", the possessor of all secrets, and the father of all gods and of the world."
  • nuns: members of a female religious order → pronounced nunce in parts of Ireland → none (line 16) → the farce for the nuns = The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies, i.e. the children's twilight game of Angels and Devil, or Colours, in II.1; Issy's schoolmates from St Brides are the nuns (FW 239:10)
  • nonce: a sexual offender, especially one who preys on children → HCE's sexual interest in his daughter Issy