Classics Retold

The verge of the haymead.  "Ah, Miss Everdene!" said the seargent, lifting his small cap, "Little did I think it was you I was speaking to the other night.   And yet, if I had reflected, 'the Queen of the Corn- market' - truth is truth at any hour of day or night, and I have heard you so named in Casterbridge yesterday - the Queen of the Corn-market', I say could be no other woman. I step across now to beg your forgiveness a thousand times for having been led by my feelings to express myself too strongly for a stranger.  To be sure I am not stranger to the place. I am seargent Troy, as I told you, and I have assisted your uncle in the fields so many times when I was a lad.  I have been doing the same for you today." "I suppose I must thank you for that, seargent Troy," said the Queen of the Corn-market, in an indifferently grateful tone.  The seargent looked hurt and sad.  "Indeed you must not, Miss Everdene," he said, "Why could...

In Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd the reference in the title is associated with the backstory of Sergeant Francis Troy and the origin of his gold watch.  The watch is an important token of Troy's past, and its backstory varies slightly in different editions.  The watch is said to have belonged to Troy's father, a doctor. But it was actually used by him while in the possession of the Earl of Seven.  The story implies that the Earl of Severn was the lover of Troy's mother, making him the biological son of Earl of Severn.  The details connect Troy to aristocratic traditions.  Severn primarily refers to River Severn and its surrounding valley. 

Cedit amor rebus is a Latin phrase meaning love yields to business or love gives way to employment. It is part of a famous piece of advice from Ovid's Remedia Amoris, meaning remedies for Love. Cedit amor rebus: rus age, tutus eris, meaning Love yields to business, and attend to business, you will be safe.  It advises that the best way to cure a passion or overcome love is to keep busy with work, daily life, or business.  It argues that love is temporary and often subordinate to harsh realities of life.  This phrase appears in Thomas Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd as an inscription on Seargent Troy's watch symbolising his superficial attitude to love and his fickle nature. 

Aalu (ആല് ) according to Malayalam lexicon compiled by Srikanteswaram G Padmanabha Pilla published by Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangham,1983 edition, means water (ജലം).  Aalam (ആലം) means water, sea, and rain. Etymology of these words are not available. Both words are on page 269 of the book. Their etymology is rooted in the Proto Dravidian language family, where they share common ancestor with "sea" "salt" and "to wash". Etymology of Aalam (ആലം) The word aalam is a classic Dravidian word that originally referred to salt water or maritime areas. ° Dravidian root: Derived from the proto-south Dravidian root "al" which specifically meant "sea"  or "salt water"  °Cognates in sister languages: • Tamil: Alam (ஆலம்) അളം means a salt pan, maritime tract or sea itself. Tulu: "Alle" refers to sides or flanks, but the root "al" remains associated with liquid agitation. ° Semantic Evolution: In Malayalam this roo...

Malayalam word Kolla കൊല്ല has the following meaning as per Malayalam lexicon ശബ്ദതാരാവലി compiled by Srikanteswaram G. Padmanabha Pilla (published by Sahitya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangham, in 1983) According to this the word has the following meaning:-  ചിറ = a bank, a bund, an embankment, a reservoir, a natural pool, pond. Again Kolla is a Persian word meaning treasury official. Etymology of kolla is unknown. For that most of the words in the lexicon is silent. Thus kolla is a water body. When അം sound is added to kolla it becomes kollam. Since Kerala was formed by gradual recession of sea, water trapped in low lands below sea level took the form of natural ponds and lakes. An agrarian society where money was not in existence water was one of the precious things. But in this case the word is derived from Persian word ghalla meaning grain tax or tax on the produce. In the historical administrative systems of Kerala, particularly under the influence of Mysore Sultanate, the offici...

Mannerisms together with the ups and downs of life had combined to shape Seargent Troy as an exceptional being. For him memories were an encumbrance; and anticipations an overabundance. He cared what was before his eyes; and that made him vulnerable to the present. Time was a transient flash of the eye now and then; and it projected past and future, now and then.  Past was pathetic and precaution against future was foreign to him. Past was yesterday and future tomorrow, not a day after.  Since he had no expectation he was never disappointed. To set against this negative gains there were positive losses from certain narrowing of higher tastes.  He was truthful to men; but to women he lied left and right. ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------- Two weeks after the shearing. Bathsheba was relieved because of the absence of Boldwood.  She was in her hayfield. Gnarled men and flexous women, covered with nankeen, whic...