Difference between revisions of "XYZ"

Latest revision as of 07:02, 15 May 2007

X

Xaghriet Mewwija
332; the peninsula on the tip of which is Valletta; Xaghra is Maltese for "a large open plain"; Mewwija/Newwija = noun fem. inhabited, full. This word (mewwija) survives as a toponymic name of the hill (Xaghret Mewwija) upon which Valletta was built and in the name of a Maltese folk-tale is "sebgha trongiet mewwija" ("the seven inhabited citron trees"); Mewwija could mean "twisted" (from milwija) but the meaning "inhabited, full" fits in with the sense required by the tale as each of the seven citrons had a girl inside; Bad Priest active in, 340; "The inhabited plain; the peninsula whose tip is Valletta," 461; 462;

From this Malta site:

Valletta, is built astride a narrow peninsula consisting of plateau of land laying about 140 feet above sea level – now-a-days Castille Heights – 180 feet above sea level, placed South of the Plateau. Standing up from the blue sea it overlooks two magnificent harbours, one to the North bounded by what is now Sliema-Gzira-Ta’ Xbiex-Msida-Pieta, and to the South facing the inlets of what today we call Rinella-Kalkara and the creeks on which is now the Vittoriosa-Cospicua-Senglea are built.

The early inhabitants knew the tongue of land as Xaghriet Mewwija – meaning "the inhabited promontory" and the point of land was called Sheb-ir-ras – the light point. No doubt, the importance of the harbours was recognized from the earliest times. Long before anybody thought of building a city on this land the medieval Maltese used to say that “F’xghariet mewwija ghad kull xiber jiswa mija”, meaning, for every palm, a measuring unit, it will cost a hundred fold.

xebec
456; a usually 3-masted Mediterranean sailing ship; Wikipedia

306; Xemxi: Maltese adj. masc. meaning "sunny" (from: xemx = sun); mother of Paola and wife of Fausto M.; 309; 311; with the Bad Priest, 312-13, 341; mother killed, 319; killed, 341; 445

X.O.

Y

Yahweh
399; God of the Jews whose name it is forbidden to pronounce;

From A History of God by Karen Armstrong:

"Any official doctrine would limit the essential mystery of God. The Rabbis pointed out that he was utterly incomprehensible. Not even Moses had been able to penetrate the mystery of God: after lengthy research, King David had admitted that it was futile to try to understand him, because he was too much for the human mind. Jews were even forbidden to pronounce his name, a powerful reminder that any attempt to express him was bound to be inadequate: the divine name was written YHWH and not pronounced in any reading of the scripture." ^[1]

yardbirds
467; laborers on the docks

yellow
"yellow hair," 90; "distant yellow exhalation," 235; "yellow daggers of African sun" 239; "yellow skin" 259; "unhealthy yellow sand," 273; "the yellow road which led [...] to the Atlantic." 279; "nauseous yellow cloud" 398; "exhausted yellow light," 403; "hidden by yellow clouds," 405; "Fort St. Elmo, dirty yellow" 456

Youngblood, Tiger
425; "spud/coxswain" on Scaffold

yo-yo
"Benny Profane [...] human yo-yo," 9; "travelling up and down the east coast like a," 10; again, 21; "New Year's Eve party was to end all yo-yoing," 30; "The furthest point from the yo-yo hand is called [...] apocheir," 35; "decided to spend the day like a yo-yo, shuttling on the subway back and forth underneath 42nd Street," 37; "He's a yo-yo," 39; umbilical, 29, 34, 49, 217; "Rachel gets her yo-yo back," 213; "He was king of the subway. He must have been there all night, yo-yoing out to Brooklyn and back," 215; "Any sovereign or broken yo-yo must feel like this after a short time of lying inert," 217; "spiderwebs woven of yo-yo string: a net or a trap," 288; Whole Sick Crew's rules of yo-yoing, 302; "There are nine million yo-yos in this town." 303; "down to Havana and back. You'll be a yo-yo champion." 353; "In which the yo-yo string is revealed as a state of mind" 367; Fortune's, 367; "After a day of yo-yoing," 371; "Malta alone drew them, a clenched fist around a yo-yo string." 444

152; dyne: unit of force (227); "one of the biggest defense contractors on the East Coast" for whom Chiclitz works; story of, 226-27; 284;

Yusef
66; the factotum (person having many diverse activities or responsibilities); anarchist who works in hotels in Alexandria; loves balloons, 67<p>

Z

Zeitsuss, Mr.
43; boss of Alligator Patrol - sharkskin suits and horn-rims; 139

Zenobia the Copt
91; probably the girl seen by Gebrail in the Quarter Rossetti; Zenobia; Who is she?

Zeus
474; The chief of the Olympian gods of ancient Greece; the sky and weather god

22; Zion is the name of the hill on which the city of Jerusalem stands, which hill is thus the symbol of the center of Jewish national life. A Zionist is one who believes in advancing the national state of Israel.

Zippo, Antoine
433; "captain of the second division head"; plays guitar on Route 66 in the Union Jack in Valletta

References

1. ↑ Armstrong, Karen, A History of God, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1993, p.74

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