Carmen (name)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The name Carmen is a female given name. Its Hebrew and Latin roots originate from enchantment, poetry, song. Its first root, enchantment, resembles Charm", a word with a similar meaning. In the early 20th century slang, it referred to train conductors.
[edit] Spanish name
As a Spanish given name, it is usually part of the devotional compound names María del Carmen, Nuestra Señora del Carmen or Virgen del Carmen (in English Our Lady of Mount Carmel), stemming from the vision of Mary the mother of Jesus on 16 July 1251 by Simon Stock, head of the Carmelite order.
[edit] Prescence in Literature
Carmen was a poetically allusional name in Nabokov's Lolita. In this book, he often called his young lover "Carmen", a surprisingly appropriate allusion considering that the book refers to a hotel called "The Enchanted Hunters," a foreshadowing that he would be "Hunting Carmen" near the end. Here is an excerpt of its subtly misleading poem:
- O my Carmen, My little Carmen!
- Something, something, those something nights,
- And the stars, and the cars, and the bars, and the barmen--
- And O my charmin', our dreadful fights.
- And the something town, which we so gaily, arm in
- Arm, we went, and our final row,
- And the gun I killed you with, O my Carmen,
- The gun I am holding now.
