Subject: (urth) Word origins...?

From: Yann Oehl <yann at emergentmedia.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 11:34:25 +0000

I apologize for changing the subject... but does anyone know the original
source of the word "Alzabo". Is it a mythological beast, an alchemical
allegory, or did Gene just make that one up? Curious.
Thanks all.
.y

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

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From: Kevin J. Maroney <kmaroney at crossover.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 14:51:59 +0000

>allegory, or did Gene just make that one up? Curious.

It's a Romanized version of the Arabic word for "hyena", if I'm not
mistaken. The Alzabo was introduced as a replacement for the hyena because,
like the hyena, it laughs.

(Remember that most/all of the animal species of Urth except humans were
driven extinct at some point in the past, and the animals present in the
Book are alien replacements which approximate the original species.
Destriers aren't horses, they're alien horse-like beings. This is an
inversion of the standard sf cliche where an alien world is populated by
exotic creatures which are actually just cows and bunnies with different
names; here the Earth is populated by alien species which are *like* cows
and bunnies.)

Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin Maroney kmaroney at crossover.com
Kitchen Staff Supervisor, New York Review of Science Fiction
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html

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From: m.driussi <m.driussi at genie.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 20:13:00 +0000

Y,

Hello and welcome.

"Alzabo" is a fabulous creature from medieval bestiaries of Europe,
based in part (it is thought) upon legends surrounding the hyena (a
non-European creature).  See: BOOK OF BEASTS translated by White,
and/or THE BOOK OF IMAGINARY BEINGS by Borges.

"Alzabo" is not itself an alchemical term, to the best of my
knowledge.  And no, Gene Wolfe did not make it up--nor did he invent
99% of the odd words used in TBOTNS (you can trust me: I wrote a book
on the subject).

=mantis=