Topic: If All is Lost, What Remains?

[Sitaram]

I decided to do some google searching on the name Aguirre, and came
up with some interesting factoids.  For me the most interesting is the

motto of the Aguirre coat of arms.

http://www.euraldic.com/blas_ag.html

Coat of Arms: A red shield with a silver bend and two gold escallops.

Motto: Omnia si perdideris  famam servare memento.

This saying is attributed to Cato the Elder.

http://www.geocities.com/~kashalinka/cato_bio.html

As censor, Cato attempted to preserve old Roman ancestral custom,
mos maiorum. He supported, in 181 BC, the law against luxury, lex
Orchia, and in 169 BC, the law that limited a woman’s financial
freedom, lex Voconia. He is also known as Cato the Censor due to his
austere scrutinization of Senate officials in 184 BC and the removal
of those who he considered too liberal or open to new foreign ideas,
and those who were extravagant or who he felt lived luxurious,
immoral lives.

He was known as Cato the Censor for his oratories concerning the
immorality of luxurious living and his activities in extricating those
Senate officials whom he believed were leading extravagant lives or
were not displaying classical Roman public behavior and so were unfit
to serve public office. One such example was a senator who publicly
kissed his wife in the presence of his daughter and was thus removed
from his official position. In classical Rome a censor was one of two
magistrates who acted as tax assessors, census takers, and
inspectors of morals and conduct.


The word which catches my eye is perdideris

We may recognize its root in our English word perdition


As far as I can determine, it translates roughly as:

When all is lost, remember, honor remains.

I may be mistaken in this translation.  Tell me if you learn a more
accurate one.


Here are some other sayings employing the same word.

http://www.rktekt.com/ck/LatSayings2.php

"Si me perdis, te perdam" (Waste me and I'll waste you (a
sundial motto))

"Quos vult perdere Jovis prius dementat." (Those whom he
wants to destroy, Jupiter first makes angry.)


Psalm 28:3 ne simul tradas me cum peccatoribus et cum operantibus
iniquitatem ne perdideris me; qui loquuntur pacem cum
proximo suo mala autem sunt in cordibus eorum


Psalm 28:3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.


The name Aguirre comes from a word which means farmer.  The Irish
name, Maquire, is etymologically related to this Spanish word.


http://ifelse.co.uk/archives/2006/01/15/a-brief-history-of-names/

The last name Maguire, seemingly Irish–and so it is, but it contains
the history of Ireland within it. The Ma = Mac, meaning: son of. The
-guire is the interesting part: it is derived from: aguirre, or: farmer in
Spanish. How did that happen? Long ago, the Vikings sailed down to
Spain to capture slaves to work in Ireland’s bogs, and the rest is
history & nomeclature. The Spanish slaves are also the source of the
“black Irish” look of pale skin, light eyes and black hair



During my searching, I also came across these points of interest:


http://www.languagehat.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=2214

Re stemming the rose - I just read in the Times Literary Supplement
(Jan 13 2006) that it may also be an allusion to William Blake, I guess
to "The Sick Rose" which is about sexual desire and the corruption of
innocence (which would be appropriate to Aguirre's view of the
matter). Also, apparently Aguirre's name is a reference to a Herzog
movie called Aguirre: The Wrath of God, which also makes sense.


There is a French expression involving 'the rose'
"faire les feuilles d'une rose"
literally it means "to make the leaves of the rose"
figuratively it means "to give a rim job"


The movie had quite a few little inside jokes and sight gags.

It was particularly funny to see them drink "Old Rose"
whiskey when they were older and not getting along so well. (When
they were younger, they drank whiskey from unlabeled bottles.)


As for put the blocks to, Cassell says it goes back to the late 19th
century and stems from the slang use of block to mean 'penis.'
"put the blocks to her" is a term also used in Alberta Canada, so I bet
it's just far-west idiom.


(Sitaram understands "blocks" as testicles.)


"Duff" is indeed a term more associated with coniferous forests. It
means all of the organic material (decomposed needles, chiefly) that
sit on top of the non-organic "mineral soil."

When you build a fire line, you take your McLeod (a big heavy
rake-like tool) and scrape all the duff toward the side away from the
forest fire, until you are down to mineral soil.

[jimmypage]

Motto: Omnia si perdideris  famam servare memento.
.....
When all is lost, remember, honor remains.

Hi sitaram
just for the
"famam servare memento"
I'ld say
" remember to preserve your honor"

I think that not only perdere is a meaningful word ,
but even fama..you know, it can be translated also with rumor, opinion (not in the case of the motto)
in general it's what people know and think about you
your public image

Surely Ennis never forget to preserve  his fama.

[Titus]

Yeah, but there is absolutely no relation between a surname and a coat of arms.  A coat of arms and its motto belong to one person, the one who it was granted to, and his direct male descendents.  In other words there is no such thing as a coat of arms for any given name.  Most of us are just run of the mill common sods.  This Aguirre may/may not have any connection to this particular coat of arms.  Titus.

[Sitaram]

Yeah, but there is absolutely no relation between a surname and a coat of arms.  A coat of arms and its motto belong to one person, the one who it was granted to, and his direct male descendents.  In other words there is no such thing as a coat of arms for any given name.  Most of us are just run of the mill common sods.  This Aguirre may/may not have any connection to this particular coat of arms.  Titus.

The connection, if there is any connection, would be in the mind of Annie Proulx, during the 6 months that she spent writing this 30 page story, since she chose to give a name to the boss, when he could have in theory remained nameless, and she chose Aguirre, and she even questioned some ranchers about Basque herders, and various sheepherding practices, in order to achieve accuracy and credibility in her story.  It could be that Annie Proulx is totally unaware of the coat of arms associated with the Aguirre family name, and its root meaning as farmer.  Or, she could have been aware of these things and had something in mind in choosing such a name.

[*Froggy*]

Is it something that was discussed on the AnnieProulx.com forum?

It does look like Annie Proulx put a lot of thought in the choice of names for her characters, like I guess many writers do...and the coat of arms link is really interesting

[Sitaram]

Is it something that was discussed on the AnnieProulx.com forum?

It does look like Annie Proulx put a lot of thought in the choice of names for her characters, like I guess many writers do...and the coat of arms link is really interesting

I have not seen this discussed anywhere. If I am "on to something" then I am hoping it is a discovery of my own.  But then, it only has real significance if Annie Proulx did it intentionally, and meant for it to be found.  Quite obviously, she did not choose the name Ennis Del Mar (meaning Island in the Sea) by accident.  We are meant to see Ennis as an island, isolated, insulated.

Annie Proulx was trained as an historian. She even sits around diners and takes notes on local dialects and expressions.

It is also possible that she never gave a thought to the Aquirre coat of arms.