Oldparr

• Thomas Parr: an English man who supposedly lived for 152 years (but cf. Bram Stoker, Dracula, ch. 14, in which his age is give as 169), often referred to simply as "Old Parr", or "Old Tom Parr". He was said to have been born in 1483 near Shrewsbury, and joined the army around 1500. He did not marry until he was 80 years old. He attributed his long life to his vegetarian diet and moral temperance, although when he was around 100 years old he had an affair and an illegitimate child; he was also a notorious gossip-monger. The poet John Taylor wrote about Parr in his 1635 poem The Old, Old, Very Old Man, or the Age and Long Life of Thomas Parr. The whiskey brand Old Parr is named for him and recounts his claimed birth and death years on its label.

• parr: a young salmon; the first stage in the life cycle of the salmon (cf. Life cycle of salmon)

• F père: father

• Combining the meanings mentioned above of "Old Parr" and a young salmon seems to establish a pattern used throughout the book of combining old and young, beginning and end, death and resurrection in the same word or phrase. Other examples: "For Ark see Zoo" (104.19), combining the beginning and end of the alphabet and perhaps encyclopedia entries; "Apophanypes" (626.5), combining "apocalypse" and "epiphany" to encapsulate the beginning embedded in an ending, as exemplified by Vico's philosophy, the structure of the book, and the song "Finnegan's Wake".

• Parnell