"From the fairest creatures we desire increase"
Line from Shakespeare's Sonnet #1
abattoir
a slaughterhouse
assignation
rendezvous; an appointment of time and place for a meeting
balaclava cap
winter headgear shaped like an oversized mitten
Byron
Romantic poet best known for his poem's Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage; also noted for his passionate and adulterous personal life
bywoner
agricultural laborer, tenant of a farm
Cronus
Greek god who married his sister, Rhea; and ate all of his children in order to maintain his throne; Rhea managed to save one of their children, Zeus
cul de sac
a street or passage closed at one end, a blind alley
cycads
often mistaken for palms or ferns, plant has large compound leaves and a thick trunk
duiker
small to medium-sized antelopes
Emma Bovary
central character in Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary; a doctor's wife who has affairs to enrich her boring bourgeoise life
Eros
Greek god of love and sexual desire
George Grosz
German expressionst painter; known for his caricature like drawings od Berlin life
Handlanger
German for handyman
historical piquancy
fitting, suitable, or justifiable because of Afrikaaners's history of oppression of Africans; poetic justice
Inferno
one of the three canticas of Dante's Divine Comedy
Kaaps
Cape Malay accent of Afrikaans
kombi
passenger van
Land Affairs grant
government assistance program that made it possible for more people to own land in South Africa
Lethe
river of forgetfulness in Greek mythology
Losung
German for resolution, name Bev and Lurie use for the process of putting the dog's to sleep.
Luxe et volupte
luxury and pleasure
omnis gens quaecumque se in se perficere vult
The meaning of this quotation has been a source of debate among Latin sholars. See http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/mailing_lists/CLA-L/2000/06/0241.php
Origen
Christian theologian and philosopher; an idealist who disregarded material things and castrated himself
Ovral
emergency contraception pill
Petrus
common name in ancient Roman times; from Latin word meaning Rock
Pollux
well-known boxer in Greek mythology, twin brother of Castor (a great horseman)
Rape of the Sabine Women
1635 painting by Nicholas Poussin, based on classical myth about the founding of Rome: Romans needed women for their city to flourish and raided a nearby town forcing the women to marry them
Schadenfreude
German word meaning to delight in the misfortune of others
Sunt lacrimae rerum, et mentem mortalia tangunt
Latin for "These are the tears of things, and our mortality cuts to the heart;" lines grom Virgil's Aeneid as Aeneas recognizes the cost of war
tessitura
the range of a melody or vocal piece
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Charles Dickens' final novel whose ending was not finished by the time he died.
vedi l'anime di color cui vinse l'ira
Italian "now see the souls of those whom anger has defeated"
William Blake
Romantic poet of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience; also illustrated famous works such as Dante's Inferno and Milton's[Paradise Lost]
