The last word

• theos: (Greek) God → at FW 598.09 The follows the word Diu, which suggests Dieu, God (French)
  • "In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God [και θεος ην ο λογος]" (John 1:1) → as in the beginning so in the end

• thé: (French) tea; the river Liffey, being tea-coloured (something Joyce keeps stressing); joined with the article it's "le thé" or "Lethe", the underground river of oblivion in Hades (Greek mythology)
  • And "le" and "the", both being articles, bear as little significance as possible, and so are "unsubstantial" and virtually invisible - as the hidden meanings in the wake's night-language; cf. Joyce on Ulysses' "yes": "least forceful word [...] barely pronounced, which denotes acquiescence, self-abandon, relaxation, the end of all resistance"

• the = tea = tay: Joyce believed that all fairy tales should begin "Once upon a time" and end with everyone sitting down to a nice cup of tea. He managed to begin A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man with the perfect beginning and to end Finnegans Wake with the perfect ending