riverrun - the course which a river shapes and follows through the landscape.
Adam and Eve's - old Franciscan church in Dublin (on the south quays of river Liffey).
swerve - an act of swerving, turning aside, or deviating from a course
bend - curve
bay - an embankment or dam to retain water, or divert its course into a mill stream, etc.
commodious - comfortable, spacious, capacious.
a vicious circle* - a situation in which a cause produces a result that itself produces the original cause.
recirculation - a renewed or fresh circulation
environs - surroundings, outskirts
Tristram - Tristan (hero of medieval romance); Sir Tristrem - metrical romance by Thomas the Rhymer from 13. c.
violer - A player of the viol, in early use esp. one attached to the household of the king, a noble, etc.; a fiddler
d'amore (it) - of love
pas encore (fr) - not yet
rearrive - to arrive again
Armorica - name of the north-western part of Gaul, now called Bretagne or Brittany.
scraggy - rough, irregular or broken in outline or contour
isthmus - a narrow portion of land, enclosed on each side by water, and connecting two larger bodies of land; a neck of land.
minor - small
wielder - a ruler, governer; one who uses or acts skilfully; wieder (d) - again.
top sawyer - a worker at a sawpit who stands above the timber; one who holds a superior position, a first-rate hand at something; Tom Soyer
Oconee - river in Georgia; ochone - exclamation of regret or grief.
exaggerate - to heap up
Laurens county - county in northern South Carolina
gorgio - person who is not gipsy gorgeous
mumper - beggar, a begging impositor, one that sulks. number
afire - flaming, on fire afar
bellows - to blow (with bellows); bellow - to call, yell.
venison* - any beast of chase or other wild animal killed by hunting very soon
scad - a dollar; hit squad - a group of esp. politically-motivated assassins or kidnappers.
buttend - to use the butt end (e.g. of a gun)
bland - suave, dull, uninteresting blind
Isaac - Isaac ben Abraham (known as Isaac the blind)
sosie - double, twin esp. an identical twin
wroth - to manifest anger, to become angry
rot - to decompose
peck - a liquid measure of two gallons; a considerable quantity or number, a 'quantity'.
Jim; Shem
Shaun; John
malt - barley or other grain prepared for brewing or distilling
brew - to concoct, to convert (barley, malt, or other substance) into a fermented liquor
arclight = arclamp - a lamp in which the light is produced by an electric arc.
rory - dewy, gaudy in colour
regina (l) - a queen rainbow
aqua (l) - water
wallstreet* - New York stock exchange; strait - difficulty, crisis.
parr - a young salmon before it becomes a smolt
retell* - to tell again; re - - 'again, 'anew'; tale - to discourse, talk, gossip.
minstrelsy - the singing and playing of a minstrel
entail - to bring on by way of necessary consequence
at short notice - with little time for action or preparation
pfui* - an exclamation of contempt or disgust
Erse - Irish; Erseman - a man who is Erse by birth or descent.
humpty* - humped, hump-backed; Humpty Dumpty - A short, dumpy, hump-shouldered person. In the well-known nursery rime or riddle (quoted below) commonly explained as signifying an egg (in reference to its shape); thence allusively used of persons or things which when once overthrown or shattered cannot be restored. (In the nursery rime or riddle there are numerous variations of the last two lines, e.g. 'Not all the king's horses and all the king's men Could [can] set [put] Humpty Dumpty up again [in his place again, together again]'.)
inquiring* - that inquires, inquisitive.
quest - search
pike - a sharp point, pointed tip, peak
rust - decompose; to lay to rest - to put in the last resting-place, to bury.