As the etymologically exact use of the word "circus" and the
strangely technical-sounding "subtends" may
already have suggested, Ithaca will draw heavily on
English words derived from Latin, and, to a lesser extent,
Greek. These ancient languages are the beloved province of
theology (hence appropriate to a catechism), and of
mathematics, biology, astronomy, medicine, law, and other
scientific or quasi-scientific disciplines that seek
unambiguous exactitude when analyzing the messy materials of
life.
A "duumvirate" is a rule of two men (Latin vir
= man). In ancient Rome duumviri were magistrates or
other municipal officers who held office jointly. There is an
obvious relevance here to the union of Odysseus and
Telemachus, king and prince of Ithaca, walking toward the
palace where they will restore proper rule to the island. The
word also clearly relates to the fact that, as they walk,
Stephen and Bloom "deliberate" on various
topics, expressing their concurring or differing opinions on
subjects as various as "Music, literature, Ireland, Dublin,
Paris, friendship, woman, prostitution, diet, the influence of
gaslight or the light of arc and glowlamps on the growth of
adjoining paraheliotropic trees, exposed corporation emergency
dustbuckets, the Roman catholic church, ecclesiastical
celibacy, the Irish nation, jesuit education, careers, the
study of medicine, the past day, the maleficent influence of
the presabbath, Stephen's collapse." Deliberation derives from
Latin librare = to weigh, and our two intellectual
adult males are weighing matters, as magistrates should.
An "itinerary" is the route or proposed
route of a journey (Latin iter = journey). The OED
defines "paraheliotropic" (not found in many
dictionaries) thus: "Of leaves: Turning their edges in the
direction of incident light" (Greek para = aside + helios
= sun + tropos = turning). The more common, but
still foreign, word "ecclesiastical" means
having to do with the institution of the church (Greek ekklesia
= an assembly of citizens). A "maleficent"
influence is an evil or harmful one (Latin malus =
bad + facere = to do).
And so on. The reader of Ithaca who does not
possess a solid grounding in ancient Latin and Greek will do
well to keep a good dictionary nearby.
