Izabela Jagačić – vocabulary enricher

WORDS CRUCIAL FOR UNDERSTANDING:

Latin phrase: agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid ine o esset exloraturi = they went to the
sea of darkness, to find out what was in it
to roam –verb = to travel or wander about with no fixed destination
important to understand because they have been roaming before they fell in love “hand
in hand about this valley, for fifteen years, roamed I with Eleonora before Love entered withi
our hearts.”
“We had drawn the God Eros from that wave, and now we felt that he had enkindled within
us.”
God Eros = god of love
to enkindle – verb = zapaliti, raspaliti, potpaliti

She had seen that the finger of Death was upon her bosom—that, like the ephemeron, she had
been made perfect in loveliness only to die; but the terrors of the grave to her lay solely in a
consideration which she revealed to me, one evening at twilight, by the banks of the River of
Silence. She grieved to think that, having entombed her in the Valley of the Many-Colored
Grass, I would quit forever its happy recesses, transferring the love which now was so
passionately her own to some maiden of the outer and everyday world."
the finger of Death = a phrase used when someone is going to die
the ephemeron – adjective = short-lived, fleeting – something designed to be useful or
important for only a short time
entombed – verb = buried

"And I called the Mighty Ruler of the Universe to witness the pious solemnity of my vow."
the pious solemnity = pobožna svečanost

"What, indeed, was my passion for the young girl of the valley in comparison with the fervor,
and the delirium, and the spirit-lifting ecstasy of adoration with which I poured out my whole
soul in tears at the feet of the ethereal Ermengarde?"
fervour – noun = warmth and intensity of feeling; synonym for passion
delirium – mentally confused stayed – could be due to illness or alcohol – in this context:
delirium due to the fervour (passion)
context of this quote: he fell in love with another woman
the end: "I wedded;—nor dreaded the curse I had invoked; and its bitterness was not visited
upon me. And once—but once again in the silence of the night; there came through my lattice
the soft sighs which had forsaken me; and they modelled themselves into familiar and sweet
voice, saying:
wed – verb = a formal or literary word meaning to marry
dread – verb = to be in great fear or terror → he was not scared of Eleonora’s reaction (nor
dreaded the curse)
curse = a call for evil or harm to come upon someone
lattice = windows consisting of small panes set in lead strips
forsake = a formal word meaning to abandon or give up
they modelled themselves = to try to be like and to behave like

'Sleep in peace!—for the Spirit of Love reigneth and ruleth, and, in taking to thy passionate
heart her who is Ermengarde, thou art absolved, for reasons which shall be made known to
thee in Heaven, of thy vows unto Eleonora.' "

The end:
The soft sighs came to him through his windows and they sounded familiar, and in sweet
voice said that he does not have to worry about the vow.

WORDS I FIND INTERESTING TO SHARE WITH OTHERS:

• the loftiest intelligence - someone with high degree intelligence --> "Men have called me
mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence"
- je li ili nije li ludost najvisi stupanj inteligencije.
- important to know because an unknown narrator contemplates wheter craziness is high or
low intelligence

• ruderless and compasless = without direction - synonyms for "without direction" that are
worth remembering
• agressi sunt mare tenebrarum, quid in eo esset exploraturi = they went to the sea of darkness,
to find out what was in it

• sweetest recesses = najslađa udubljenja => worth remembering/interesting

• dazzling rivulets = blistavi potočići

"And of the many dazzling rivulets that glided through devious ways into its channel"

• tremulous lines = drhtavi redovi

"Tremulous lines, dallying with the Zephyrs, one might have fancied them giant serpents
of Syria doing homage to their sovereign the Sun."
SOURCES:

Book
Edgar Allan Poe: Eleonora

I have used two dictionaries for this task.

The Reader’s Digest Association Far East Limited, Word Power Dictionary, 2005., Honk
Kong
Božić, Damir, Rječnik englesko-hrvatski I hrvatsko-engleski s gramatikom, Split