From: m.driussi@genie.com
Subject: (urth) Re: Cim & seven
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 97 21:20:00 GMT


[Posted from URTH, a mailing list about Gene Wolfe's New Sun and other works]

Reply:  Item #1989349 from URTH@LISTS.BEST.COM@INET00#

I was and remain undecided whether Cim means "snow" or "pollen" or
"flower/seeds" (like a dandelion's paragliders).  They would seem to
belong to different seasons, fwiw.

Then there is "Cimmeria," which is using the "cim" of darkness (and
pronounced by us moderns as "Simmeria," no?).  "Darkness Glowing"?
Sounds good!  "Darkness blowing from tree to tree"?  Not impossible!

There is also "Cimmerii" (Latin pronunciation: Kimmerii) a Thracian
people living on the Dnieper.  For the literalists.

While cim might be a special type of snow (as in, "Esquimoux have a
large number of terms for snow"), it cannot be general snow since
then the father's planned name for child would have been "Seven Cim."

That bit about "Seven Snows" has always acted like a hint of some
sort.  But what?  I'm repeatedly tempted to come up with the
equivalant in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, or other language, just to see
if there might be a linkage . . . brute force reverse engineering.
Today I'm wondering if Gene Wolfe didn't get some tribe names from
his friend Algis ("you may remember him as Jonas") Budrys--mantic tip
to check Baltic languages.

Oh hey, it happens to be a mangled contraction of "Snow White and the
Seven Dwarves"--and =that's= why it has such a fairy tale ring to my
ear.  (Odd that there is a dwarf in the TS story . . . )

=mantis=