Of course I know what the word means now. I'll forego posting an image of one until the end, in case you haven't read or seen this tale. But it's odd that I still don't associate the word with the object. If someone were to ask me what a carbuncle was before this refresher course, I would probably have guessed it was something like a boil or a goiter--in other words, some protuberence on the human body. So let's see exactly how I got this impression.
...Well it's very interesting. I suppose we've come far enough now that I can reveal that the carbuncle of the story is a jewel, "a forty-grain weight of crystalized carbon". In other words, a blue diamond. Or maybe not, as some have pointed out that Holmes never refers to the jewel as such. But my original guess about the boils would also be right. That's because the word has taken off in two very different directions. Once again, it all goes back to etymology.
"Carbuncle" comes from Latin and means, "little coal". (That "-cle" on the end turns out to be diminutive.) It was first used to describe gems of a fiery color, such as rubies and garnets. (I guess it's assumed that the little coal is glowing.) Only later did it come to describe an inflamed sore or boil, which like a coal, though not so much like a jewel, is glowing red. You would think that a jewel and a boil would be about as far apart, as concepts go, as you could get, but apparently the associative mind does or did make that leap at some point. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's mind takes it even further, making the red jewel glow blue...
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" is actually a nice little holiday story and as we are rapidly advancing on that season, you might like to either read or listen to here. And when you've done that, you might enjoy some interesting questions about the story that I happened upon here.
(Well, it was either this or a picture of a flaming pustule...)
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I'm glad you chose the picture you did.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? It would have been more instructive to illustrate the other kind of carbuncle, but frankly, I couldn't face it.
ReplyDeleteI've never been quite able to think of a carbuncle as a jewel. (Or, as Conan Doyle or others of his time might have added, "...without a tremor of disgust.").
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Peter, I think it's interesting that the more painful definition of the word is the one that has stuck with me too, even though I've (luckily) never had a carbuncle or known anyone who admitted to one.
ReplyDeleteI probably first heard the word through Don Martin's characters Fester Bestertester and Carbuncle.
ReplyDeleteHmm. I don't think I know those characters.
ReplyDeleteIf I recall correctly, one was a zhlub, and the other was his sidekick. Or maybe the zhlub was the sidekick.
ReplyDelete==========================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
That was not exactly enlightening so I had to look it up. We read Mad occasionally during at least one period of our lives, but I don't think we were ever involved enough with it in our household that I knew the name Don Martin. Oddly enough, I am supposed to be reading Motherless Brooklyn for my reading group right now, though haven't started yet. Over on Wikipedia I just learned that one of the characters has a strong investment in Don Martin. Guess I better get cracking on that one.
ReplyDeleteI loved Mad for the cartoons. I could even draw passable Spy vs. Spys and a decent Don Martin-style face.
ReplyDeleteSurely you remember Captain Klutz?
Uh, no. Spy vs. Spy, though, yes. It didn't inspire me to try and draw it, though. Not even once.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Klutz's secret identity was Farley J. Fonebone, which ought to give you an idea of his charm ... unless I'm wrong, and Fonebone was another one of Don Martin's characters.
ReplyDeleteYou can see how the spies would be tempting subjects for drawing, don't you? They were made of simple shapes -- circles, triangles, cones, not to mention the simple colors.
Fascinating, and makes pefect sense, especially with the picture. I am going to take my first foray into Sherlock, by checking out the link you posted and reading the story. Then I will check out your questions. Besides Inspector Morse, Encyclopedia Brown is the only detective based stories I have read.
ReplyDeleteFossilised forever in the public imagination as linked to the current Prince of Wales...
ReplyDelete"http://minu.me/3bms"
Thanks for that link, Photographe à Dublin. I had come across the reference in my researching but forgotten who said it. I just found a sort of follow up to it, twenty years later in the Guardian archives.Wonder if you'd agree.
ReplyDeleteSean, I'd be glad to hear of your reaction. They might be fun to read with your kids. I've watched the Jeremy Brett series more than I've actually read them at this point--love the way he hams it up.
Peter, I think there might be two camps of childhood art, those that copy and those that don't. I think I got too frustrated by how little my efforts resembled the originals and so tended to draw more designs and doodles than anything else.
14 comments and no one has mentioned Prince Charles?
ReplyDeleteOn witnessing the plans for the extension of the National Gallery he called the new wing "a monstrous carbuncle on the face of an old friend", a comment which is unintentionally funny and which apparently set back English architecture for decades. It was quite the scandal at the time and the new wing of the National Gallery was scrapped and replaced by some neo classical bland thing.
English Architects have hated Prince Charles for his influential deep conservatism ever since.
Poor Prince Charles, eclipsed by his wife, then his mother, now his son. No wonder gets all pissy every few years.
ReplyDeletePeter
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry that he grew up influenced by such ghastly parents but even so he seems like a prize buffoon.
Charles is a carbuncle on the royal posterior, is he?
ReplyDeleteI saw him when he visited Boston years ago. My vantage point was above the prince, which was how I discovered he was balding.
Peter
ReplyDeleteAnd so is William, why do you think he's getting married? She aint knocked up...it's so that he doesnt look bald on the tea towels.
She ani't knocked up, eh? Let's just see how long it is before King Harald of Norway gets bumped down a slot in the line of succession to the British throne.
ReplyDeleteWhat in heaven's name have I started? Although I guess I should be glad to give you far flung subjects of the queen a chance to indulge in a little Royal Wedding talk.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Adrian, Photographe à Dublin alluded to that carbuncle reference first.
That Guardian article I found later has a list:
Six wonders of the post-carbuncle world
1 Imperial War Museum North, Trafford Park, Manchester
2 Selfridges, Birmingham
3 Said Business School, Oxford
4 Laban Dance Centre, Deptford, London
5 National Space Centre, Leicester
6 Ruskin Museum, Lancaster
No, I don't know the buildings, but what they intend by it is that his influence, though unintentiopnal may not have been all bad.
There was a time when Prince Charles was considered quite the romantic catch. My cousin somehow believed that she was going to marry him and was quite put out when it didn't come to pass. Though I bet she's not bothered too much by it now.
We do live in a post-carbuncle society, don't we? Some might be worried by this, but I regard it as an opportunity.
ReplyDeleteYou always were more optimistic than the rest of us, Peter.
ReplyDeleteGod has granted me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the things I can't, and the wisdom to tell the difference, at least when it comes to carbuncles.
ReplyDeleteSeana
ReplyDeleteApologies to Dublin.
Yes, British architects are fortunate that Charles destroyed his credibility the way he did. Post tampon etc...
I feel sorry for any young woman who would marry into that melancholy, humorless and dimwitted clan.
Seana
ReplyDeleteNot being British you have no idea how funny the words
"National Space Centre, Leicester" are.
Adrian-
ReplyDeleteWell, it's funny when you say it.
Peter, there are some carbuncles that would make me optimistic too, especially the large blue ones.
Speaking of large blue carbuncles, the Smithsonian is apparently broadcasting a show on resetting the Hope Diamond. I happened upon this while at the laundromat, where I read an article about how they were using the opportunity of putting it in a new setting to test its properties.
Prince Andrew was supposed to have been pretty lively. I have one of those three degrees of separation things. My sister became friends with a Cockney travel agent who ended up visiting us in California at one point. He knew the Prince and used to party with him, and knowing Len, these were probably pretty lively parties. Being the second son does have its advantages at times. I think Harry will probably have a happier life than William as well.
Doesn't "The Blue Carbuncle" sound like a Ross Macdonald novel?
ReplyDeleteAnd why the hell do thse women keep marrying into the royal family, anyhow? Good career move, I guess.
... that melancholy, humorless and dimwitted clan.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice anti-Wodehousian description, the precise opposite of the inhabitants of Blandings.
Good career move, bad life strategy. Did you get a load of that carbuncle she got out of it, though?
ReplyDeleteWhoa, nice carbuncle!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I saw her flashing it on TV the other day. I'd never seen a camera linger for so long and so many flashes flash for so long on a single finger.
You obviously do not spend much time watching the home shopping channels, then, Peter.
ReplyDeleteI may have said here before somewhere that though I have zero interest in jewelry, for some reason I can become fascinated by watching it described at length and ad nauseum on QVC.
Yeah, but not for cameras flashing the way they did for, er, Princess Kate. (Or will she be called Princess Katherine? Sounds more royal that way, doesn't it?)
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