North Armorica

• Armorica: the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul that includes the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers inland to an indeterminate point → Armorica was the birthplace of Sir Amory Tristram, 1st Earl of Howth, and the place where the legendary Tristan spent his youth
  • A Finnegans Wake Gazetteer
  • Wikipedia

• North America: the New World in which the history of the Old World repeats itself Viconianly
  • A Finnegans Wake Gazetteer

• North Armorica:
  • "North" within context of the body = Head/Mind/Heaven
  • "Amor" = meaning love in many languages
  • "Armor" = protective covering used defend against damage
• Based on the above, North Armorica: = Lofty love felt by the mind (vs. the loins). To be in "North Armorica" is to have your mind within the land of love. The type of love that shields you from reason and that you defend against all reproach.
  • In the passage, Joyce shows this state descending into lust, longing for the: "scraggly isthmus" = might allude to anatomical isthmi including parts of female and male sex organs. But, unable to obtain it, "weilderfights his penisolate war" = Masturbation. "penisolate" = Penis in isolation.
  • Amor may also reference:
    • Sir 'Amory' Tristram
    • Cupid, the Roman god of love also known by his Latin name Amor
    • Eros, the Greek god of love also known as Amor
    • The land of the ancient Amorites, also known as Amurru. (a Semitic people that controlled Mesopotomia from 1900-1600 BC)
    • "Amor" = The Spanish word for love
    • "Amour" = The French word for love

• Armorica: Arthur Rimbaud, Une saison en enfer: "Me voici sur la plage armoricaine. Que les villes s'allument dans le soir. Ma journée est faite; je quitte l'Europe." ("Here I stand at the Armorican beach. Let the cities light up in the night. My day is done; I leave Europe.")