Annotations to James Joyce's Ulysses/Oxen of the Sun/386
Annotations
editmarchand de capotes (French) cloak merchant. But capote is also slang for condom, which provides the subtext of Alec Bannon's remarks.[1]
livre (French) pound. The livre was an obsolete French coin originally representing the value of a pound of silver. By the time it was replaced by the franc, its value had dropped to less than that of five grammes of silver, or a little less than that of one franc. The word is now used to designate a pound Sterling.[2]
Le Fécondateur (French) The Fertilizer, or The Impregnator. Should this term be in italics?
avec lui (French) with him.
ventre biche (French) A coarse oath. In French, ventre de Dieu (God's belly!) is an archaic oath. In order to avoid taking the holy name in vain, Dieu was either suppressed altogether or replaced with an innocuous word: Ventre! (Belly!), Ventre de loup! (Wolf's belly!), Ventre de boeuf! (Bull's belly!), Ventre de biche! (Doe's belly!). Ventre de biche is always the name of a colour (reddish-white, or a light beige). I have not come across Joyce's contraction of ventre de biche, which may be an error.[3]
sans blague (French) no kidding.
il y a deux choses (French) there are two things.