Yay! I'm always worried people won't click through to things--they shouldn't have to, but the links add a lot, and I literally ran out of space to put the footnote material in the main text (believe me, I tried).
Mischa: it seems that Lithuanian feminine forms of Michael are Mikola, Mikalina, Michalina [where the "ch" is not the English "ch" as in "check", but rather "h" as in "house"], or Mikolė.
Mischa (or Misha) is actually a common Russian masculine name, although a similar name - Misia - might be a diminuitive form of Michalina, at least in Polish. I guess the closest approximation that an English-speaking person could read would be Mishya. (Wherein "mi" is the English "me", not "my".) (But "Misia" might also be a diminuitive form of "Maria".)
But anyway, Hannibal's Lithuanian ancestry seems... well, debatable, from a linguistic point of view. For one, native masculine surnames in Lithuanian would end in "-as", "-us", "-is", "-ys", "-a", or "-e"...
I had noticed that about feminine Polish names--Kasia for Katarzyna, etc. The part where I get stuck is--why Lithuania? And at exactly which point in the series was Harris like, "Yes, obviously there has to be a back story, and obviously he's Eastern European aristocracy." Because that actually shows up before the book he didn't so much want to write. It had to be a country invaded by the Nazis, I guess, but that could have been Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Yugoslavia--why did he settle on Lithuania? Chikatilo was Russian/Soviet, even. (And initially Hannibal was inspired by a doctor Harris met in Mexico, IIRC.) I'm not saying Harris *shouldn't* have gone with Lithuania, but I'm just fascinated by other writers' processes, and I would love to know what and when the actual train of thought was. Particularly since neither "Hannibal" nor "Mischa" are names in that language. The whole thing is inconsistent in a way that makes me think there must be reasons behind it.
On the "why Lithuania" train of thought, I've been trying to research into Lithuanian mythology for kicks and it is a bear to tackle.
On the one hand, the Lithuanians fascinatingly held onto their pagan-ness the longest out of all of Europe and their mythology is specific to them, not just general Baltic (although their mythology/folklore is closest to and has overlap with Latvia).
On the other hand, VERY little folklore/mythology got recorded and when interest finally started up about it, there was a fair amount of 19th century "making stuff up" going on with scholars. Trying to find quality scholarship in English (or even French which I can kinda read passably) is not easy.
However, fascinating tidbit for Lecter Family purposes: one of the most well-known surviving Lithuanian stories (which has hundreds of recorded versions) is about Elge the Queen of the Serpents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egl%C4%97_the_Queen_of_Serpents
Yep, we have a bunch of those! Kasia/Katarzyna, Asia/Joanna, Basia/Barbara, and so on, and so on.
Lithuania just always seemed so... random to me. One can, of course, fanwank the names away as the Italian mother's whimsy, and argue that the last name doesn't necessarily have to be native to Lithuania, either (my family's been living right in the centre of Poland for the last 400 years and we have a Scandinavian last name). But you are absolutely right: if it's just about the Nazis (or even the Nazis + the Soviets), he could have chosen from so many countries in Central / Eastern Europe. My most educated guess is that Lithuania sounded especially remote and exotic while still being not that remote and exotic?
And, by the way, thanks for the recaps. I'm a very casual viewer, and I haven't really enjoyed this season too much, but your recaps make it much more bearable :)
This is a work of beauty. I feel like the word recap doesn't come close to doing this justice. The footnotes! I really enjoy all the tangents you take and rabbit holes you go down; I learn all of these interesting tidbits about Dracula and fireflies and all kinds of things. Thank you for all of these.
Aww! Thank you! I wasn't sure I could top Take On Stagenstein. But once Angelina Burnett said the D word, I wasn't leaving until I could say All the Things about Dracula.
It's a very minor point, but your take on "What is left in you to love?" throws a new light on "There is nothing in you to like" from "A Tale of Two Cities" (which, as I'm planning to write a book on ATOTC one of these days, is very helpful). I've read that scene in ATOTC a hundred thousand times and never considered that reading before.
Cleolinda Industries, supplementing English majors' education since 2003.
"IT'S A MASSIVE DRACULA TANGENT AND YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN ME"
I was at a Sherlock Holmes brunch where we were talking about the Sussex Vampire and Polidori came up and I went OFF. Knowledge of Victorian detectives: feeble Knowledge of Gothic literature: immense
Thank you for this recap. I watch the show and I get it but I don't Get It until I read these.
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Mischa (or Misha) is actually a common Russian masculine name, although a similar name - Misia - might be a diminuitive form of Michalina, at least in Polish. I guess the closest approximation that an English-speaking person could read would be Mishya. (Wherein "mi" is the English "me", not "my".) (But "Misia" might also be a diminuitive form of "Maria".)
But anyway, Hannibal's Lithuanian ancestry seems... well, debatable, from a linguistic point of view. For one, native masculine surnames in Lithuanian would end in "-as", "-us", "-is", "-ys", "-a", or "-e"...
Reply
Reply
On the one hand, the Lithuanians fascinatingly held onto their pagan-ness the longest out of all of Europe and their mythology is specific to them, not just general Baltic (although their mythology/folklore is closest to and has overlap with Latvia).
On the other hand, VERY little folklore/mythology got recorded and when interest finally started up about it, there was a fair amount of 19th century "making stuff up" going on with scholars. Trying to find quality scholarship in English (or even French which I can kinda read passably) is not easy.
However, fascinating tidbit for Lecter Family purposes: one of the most well-known surviving Lithuanian stories (which has hundreds of recorded versions) is about Elge the Queen of the Serpents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egl%C4%97_the_Queen_of_Serpents
Reply
Lithuania just always seemed so... random to me. One can, of course, fanwank the names away as the Italian mother's whimsy, and argue that the last name doesn't necessarily have to be native to Lithuania, either (my family's been living right in the centre of Poland for the last 400 years and we have a Scandinavian last name). But you are absolutely right: if it's just about the Nazis (or even the Nazis + the Soviets), he could have chosen from so many countries in Central / Eastern Europe. My most educated guess is that Lithuania sounded especially remote and exotic while still being not that remote and exotic?
And, by the way, thanks for the recaps. I'm a very casual viewer, and I haven't really enjoyed this season too much, but your recaps make it much more bearable :)
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Cleolinda Industries, supplementing English majors' education since 2003.
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I was at a Sherlock Holmes brunch where we were talking about the Sussex Vampire and Polidori came up and I went OFF.
Knowledge of Victorian detectives: feeble
Knowledge of Gothic literature: immense
Thank you for this recap. I watch the show and I get it but I don't Get It until I read these.
Reply
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