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Can we see the color yellow in the word "pasqualines" from Finnegans Wake chapter III.2? Shaun as Jaun is lecturing to his sister Issy and her 28 rainbow girls.

[432.30] Is it rubrics, mandarimus, pasqualines, or verdidads is in it, or the bruiselivid indecores of estreme voyoulence and, for the lover of lithurgy, bekant or besant, where's the fate's to be wished for?

We are looking for a rainbow: ROYGBIV.

Clued in, I can find red in "rubrics", orange via the mandarin in "mandarimus", green in "verdidads" via verde, blue in "bruiselivid", indigo in "indecores and violet in "voyoulence".

But then "pasqualines" must be yellow.

From Google Translate, "pasqualine" gives us Easter in various languages, for example the Italian Pasqua. We also have the Pasqualina or Easter Pie. A glance at images of this pie certainly suggests the color yellow.

Is there a stronger link between "pasqualines" and the color yellow?

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    Finnegan's Wiki suggests that "priests wear gold (yellow) vestments celebration of Easter"
    – Gareth Rees
    Oct 29, 2022 at 10:57
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    All the other examples are direct, the colors standout without allusion.
    – fundagain
    Oct 29, 2022 at 18:11
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    @fundagain ‘Mandarimus’ is the first-person plural future perfect active indicative of Latin mandō, ‘I order’. (According to Wiktionary at least) How is that a direct example of ‘orange’? How is Spanish for ‘truth’ a direct example of ‘green’?
    – Spagirl
    Oct 30, 2022 at 18:43
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    @spagirl Literally, I read "commands". Clued in to look for colors, I can see mandarin (an orange) punned into the word. As do others, I can give refs.
    – fundagain
    Oct 30, 2022 at 19:01
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    @spagirl For your other example, I literally read "truths", but clued in for colors, see verde (sp) - green. I edited verdi to verde in my post.
    – fundagain
    Oct 30, 2022 at 19:05

2 Answers 2

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I think you are correct when you identify the Pasqualina. On this site we read (in Google assisted translation,

that perhaps the only element that truly defines this Genoese savory cake is the whole hard-boiled egg: the fun of finding the egg at the time of cutting is one of the favorite moments of the holiday lunch.

This seems to fit with the theme of the colour being ‘hidden’, as the bright yellow cooked yolk is only revealed when the tart is opened.

Pasqualina via www.panorama.it/amp/ricetta-torta-pasqualina-genova-2645688611

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One possibility: daffodils are called paasbloemen (Easter flowers) or paaslelies (Easter lilies) in Dutch.

This is a fairly roundabout connection, but it's possible that this is Joyce's connection of pasqualines to yellow.

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    Well found. Dutch is a major language in Finnegans Wake. And the link is fairly direct by Finnegan Wake standards, in that one can see "paaslelies" in "pasqualines" (without allusion) as much as one can see "mandarins" in "mandarimus" (without allusion)
    – fundagain
    Oct 30, 2022 at 6:36

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