[Vwoolf] "What a lark! What a plunge!" (Could Woolf have had the bird in mind?)

[Jeremy Hawthorn]

I agree that the dominant meaning of "lark" here is "a bit of fun." 
Etymologically this is unconnected to lark=bird; "laiking" is Yorkshire 
and Lancashire dialect for playing (as opposed to working), and "lark" 
both as verb and noun is related to modern Norwegian "å leke": to play 
(Woolf would not have known this but Joyce might!). Partridge relates 
the word to ON leika and OE lācan. (Insert joke here about Lacan and the 
play of the signifier.)

But I have often wondered whether there might also be a hint at the 
bird, which is characterized by rapid ascending and descending vertical 
movements, hence plunging. Bird and cognates appear 20 times in the 
novel, and Scrope Purvis thinks that there is a touch of the bird about 
Clarissa - although he goes on to mention not a lark but a jay, a very 
different bird.

Jeremy H


On 29.06.2020 06:32, Regina Marler via Vwoolf wrote:
> Not the bird, I think. A lark, as in a bit of fun. A plunge, as in the 
> moment one dares something: plunging into adventure.
>
> All best,
>
> Regina