Deepbrow fundigs
- De Profundis: (Latin) "Out of the depths", the opening words (and the traditional title) of Vulgate Psalm 129; the priest recites this psalm at funerals, before the body is taken out of the house; hence, its place at the wake
- Oscar Wilde, De Profundis: a long letter or apology written by the Irish writer while he was in jail, and a key text for FW; Wilde's full name, Oscar Fingal O'Flaherty Wills Wilde, contains an allusion to "Fingal" (the Scottish name for Finn MacCool) and hints at the initials F.W.
- high-brow: an intellectual
- low-brow: a person who makes no pretensions to intellect
- deep blue → L/R split
- blau: (German) blue → L/R split
- Brau: (German) brew
- braw: (Anglo-Irish) fine
- breá: (Irish) fine
- fündig: (German) rich in deposits
- fun duds → funeral clothes? clothes to wear while one is having fun?
- digs: lodgings, accomodation; archaeological excavations
Commentary
- FW 006.25-27: "With their deepbrow fundigs ... the fuddled, O!"
These five lines all connect to song lyrics, the first line from the chorus of Phil the Fluther's Ball to round off previous lines reflecting "Brian O'Linn", after which a section of three lines follow from Finnegan's Wake and then the cycle is completed again by the same lyrics of chorus:
With the toot of the flute and the twiddle of the fiddle, O
And laid him out across the bed,
With a gallon of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head.
With the toot of the flute and the twiddle of the fiddle, O
. . . are echoed by Joyce in these lines:
With their deepbrow fundigs and the dusty fidelios.
They laid him brawdawn alanglast bed.
With a bockalips of finisky fore his feet.
And a barrowload of guenesis hoer his head.
Tee the tootal of the fluid hang the twoddle of the fuddled, O!
Fidelio is the name of Beethoven's only opera. In the opera, a faithful wife saves her imprisoned (a Wilde reference?) husband from death. In the song Finnegan's Wake, Tim Finnegan is saved from death when whiskey is splashed on him; this occurs as the result of a fight originating between two women, both of whom claim to be Tim's significant other. Thus, Tim is saved by his infidelity, without which there would have been no fight, no spilled whiskey, and no resurrection.
Fe da dos is Spanish for "faith of two", perhaps hinting at the two women fighting over Tim's corpse; the suggestion that "dusty" = dos (two) is reinforced by the words "tootal" and "twoddle" in the last line.
There is also a reference to Fidele, the masculine name Imogen chooses in Shakespeare's play Cymbeline when she pretends to be a young man. In the play Fidele "rises from the dead", in the sense that "he" is mourned as dead by Guiderius and Arviragus, whose lament ("Fear No More the Heat of the Sun") contains the refrain that all thing must "come to dust".
Obviously, finisky = Finnegan + whiskey + finis (the end, death). "Finis" is then contrasted with the beginning, Genesis, in the pun "guenesis" = Guinness = porter brewed in Dublin (James Joyce's birthplace) at St. JAMES Gate.
After the end is the beginning, just as in the last page and first page of the book, and in Tim Finnegan, who will always begin again.
Also, as a side note, this meaning is also enhanced by the phrase "a bockalips", or "Apocalypse" – the final book of the Bible, which is concerned with the end of the world. Scattered throughout the book are such references.
