These are the jokes, pt. 2; more inhumi mysteries

mark millman · 13 Apr 2000, 15:01 · from whorl-v0010.mbox · original

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From: mark millman <millman at us.ncipher.com>
Subject: Re: (whorl) These are the jokes, pt. 2; more inhumi mysteries
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 15:01:53
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At 09:20 am -0700 on Thursday 13 April 2000, Adam Stephanides=20
<adamsteph at earthlink.net> wrote:

> There is very little humor in OBW (a trait it shares with most of
> Wolfe's books), but a while ago Kieran Cleary posted one hu-
> morous bit. Here are two more.
>
> 1) On p. 126 Horn refers to the burials alive of inhumi practiced=20
> in Gaon as "inhumations."  I don't know whether this is an actual=20
> word meaning "burials alive" or a coinage by Wolfe on analogy=20
> with "exhumation."  Either way it's a pun, if a grim one.

It is a grim pun, but it may not be quite as bad as Adam suggests. =20
"Inhumation" means "a burial", but doesn't imply that it's a living=20
burial.  Merriam-Webster on-line (at http://www.m-w.com) gives:

   Main Entry: in=C2=B7hume
   Pronunciation: in-'hy=C3=BCm
   Function: transitive verb
   Inflected Form(s): in=C2=B7humed; in=C2=B7hum=C2=B7ing
   Etymology: probably from French inhumer, from Medieval=20
        Latin inhumare, from Latin in- + humus earth -- more at=20
        HUMBLE
   Date: 1604
   : BURY, INTER
   - in=C2=B7hu=C2=B7ma=C2=B7tion /"in-hy=C3=BC-'mA-sh&n/ noun

and the 1913 _Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary_ (at=20
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/webster.form.html)
has:

   Inhumation (Page: 764)
   In`hu*ma"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. inhumation.]=20
   1. The act of inhuming or burying; interment.=20
   2. (Old Chem.) The act of burying vessels in warm earth in=20
       order to expose their contents to a steady moderate heat;=20
       the state of being thus exposed.=20
   3. (Med.) Arenation.

Neither dictionary ascribes "inhumation" a connotation of live burial,=20
and I don't recall ever seeing it used that way.

> 2) [snipped, sorry]
>
> The passage on p. 126 in which "inhumations" are mentioned is a=20
> cryptic one, in more ways than one.  First, Horn ponders: "Would=20
> it be effective for us to dig up one of the recent inhumations and=20
> release him to warn the others?"  Warn the others of what?  Of=20
> Horn's threat to reveal Krait's secret, presumably.  But what does=20
> Horn hope to accomplish by this?  We have no clue (this is before=20
> the war with Han has even begun). =20

I'd always thought that the inhumu released from his grave would warn
the others of the harsh treatment they'd face in Gaon.  No doubt an in-
humu forewarned could avoid capture and burial, but Horn likely hopes=20
that at least some inhumi will avoid Gaon so as not to face such risks.  I
don't think that Krait's secret comes into play here.

> Then Horn briefly speculates that the inhumi may not be "natural=20
> creatures," but instead may have been created by the Neighbors! =20
> What does Horn know about the inhumi, or the Neighbors, that=20
> leads him to entertain this possiblity even briefly?

I suspect that we won't find this out until we read _In Green's Jungles_.

Nacre

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