Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax!

• Brekkekkex koax koax: the refrain of the chorus of frogs in the comedy The Frogs by the Greek playwright Aristophanes; it is onomatopoeic in Greek; the play features a contest between the two Greek tragedians Aeschylus and Sophocles
  • In the play, the frogs occupy the Lake Acheron, which Dionysus (the play's protagonist) crosses to reach the Land of the Dead, Hades.
    • The Frogs of Aristophanes translated by Benjamin B. Rogers (London 1919)
  • Sl Frogs: the French → Joyce wrote FW in Paris
  • Gilbert & Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance: "I am the very model of a modern major-general ... I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes" → Major-General Stanley was based on the Dublin-born Viscount Wolseley
    • Third Census of Finnegans Wake
  • nr: "A was an archer, who shot at a frog" → 005.09: Hootch is for husbandman handling his hoe
  • Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno: Chapter 24, The Frogs' Birthday-Treat: "So now, when you hear the Frogs croaking in a particularly melancholy way, you may be sure they're trying to guess Bruno's next Shakespeare ‘Bit’. Isn't that interesting?" et passim

• A phonetic approximation of a swordfight (between Ostrogoths and Visigoths); "Brekkek kekkek kekkek kekkek" → the sounds of swords coming into contact, "koax koax koax" → sword blades scraping against shields

• Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax!: anticipates the interracial tensions later in this paragraph, as the initials of these phrases are KKK twice over.

• K-K-K: generally the stuttering ubiquitous in FW and particularly the emphasis on three Ks here is reminiscent of “K-K-K-Katy”, a popular song at the time, which also refers both to love and war
  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-K-K-Katy