Gulliver's Travels
by Jonathan Swift
Gulliver's Travels
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| Balmuff | Lilliput: grand judiciary (i.e., chief justice); per Clark translates into "raven"; joins in a conspiracy to impeach Gulliver.
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| Balnibarbi | island in the Pacific Ocean, east of Japan; a territory in the dominion of Laputa; capital and principal city is Lagado and main port is Maldonada; translates into "Barbary" [Clark]. |
| Barbadoes | Barbados; island in the eastern Caribbean Sea; a British colony from 1652 (until 1966); "I was forced to get Recruits out of Barbadoes, and the Leeward Islands" (IV:1;2) |
| Bates, James | eminent London Surgeon;
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| beeves | beefs; i.e. steers, meat. Quantities of food are one way Swift compares relative sizes of the people in the first two books.
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begging |
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| Belfaborac | The imperial palace of Lilliput; per Clark, "ever favor at" or "evil favor at".
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| Bickerstaff, Isaac, Esq. | pseudonym used by Swift in a series of pamphlets (1708-9) satirizing and attacking astrologist (and quack) John Partridge. Bickerstaff went as far as to predict the date of Partridge's death and follow-up by announcing its occurance as predicted. Others in Swift's circle also used the pseudonym for other writings. |
| Biddle, John | captain of the merchantman which rescues Gulliver after leaving Blefuscu; the ship is never named. (I:8;9) |
| Big-Endian / Little-Endian | two factions within Lilliputian society: Big-Endians break their eggs at the larger end ("the primitive way"), while the Emperor commanded all his subjects to break the smaller end. Resistance by traditionalists and their subsequent suppression by the government had resulted in civil unrest. The Big-Endian faction had the support of neighboring Blefuscu, a further source of friction between the traditional enemies. Thus Swift satirizes the suppression of Catholics that had racked England and subject nations from the reign of Henry VIII to Swift's own time.
the Emperor ... published an Edict, commanding all his Subjects, upon great Penaltys, to break the smaller End of their Eggs. The People so highly resented this Law, that our Historys tell us there have been six Rebellions raised on that account; wherein one Emperor lost his Life, and another his Crown. (I:4;4) |
| Black-Bull | presumably an inn or tavern; Gulliver inherits "a long Lease of the Black-Bull in Fetter-Lane" (I:8;11) from his Uncle John |
Blefuscu | island nation neighboring Lilliput; the two nations are historic enemies and at war at the time of Gulliver's visit; Blefuscu represents France, as Lilliput is England; Blesfuscu had supported the Big-Endian faction in Lilliput and harbored dissenters fleeing persecution, as France had provided support for the English Catholics and Royalists.
Clark translates Blefuscu as "Bluff as you" or "You ask bluff" or "Brave as you." and it is also possible to render it as "France."
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| Bliffmarklub | Lugg.; "high Chamberlain" (III:9;6); Clark translates as "love vile trash" or "ever love trash"; |
| Blustrug | Lill.; unit of land measure (area? length? circumference?); Clark renders it as "dirt mire" or "mile dirt" or "ever dirt" or "evil dirt."
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| Bolgolam, Skyresh | Galbet or Admiral of the Realm, Lilliput; Gulliver's mortal enemy; represents either: the Earl of Nottingham, First Lord of the Admiralty (1680-4) who opposed Swift becoming a bishop, or ; the Duke of Marlborough; "stylish border ass" or "style 'im border ass" or most likely "Mar'boro'g" [Clark]
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| Lord Bolingbroke | see Henry St. John |
| books | books are one point of comparison between lands Gulliver visits.
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| Borach Mivola | (Lill.) undefined: in context appears to be a shout of warning; "He hurls the drinking cups" [Clark]
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| Boyle, Charles | (1676-1731); 4th Earl of Orrery, 1st Baron Marston; one of the Christ Church scholars who opposed Bentley and Wotton in the "ancients and moderns" debate; Boyle defended Wm. Temple, Swift's patron, after he unwisely had based his treatise on the "Epistles of Phalaris" a forgery; for his part in the controversy, Boyle receives glowing mention in Swift's Battle of the Books; Boyle was the father of John Boyle, the 5th Earl of Orrery; there appears to have been a conflict between father and son over differences in scholarly inclinations; Boyle declined to bequeath his library to his son, writing in his will "Having never observed that my own son hath showed much taste or inclination either for entertainment or knowledge which study and learning afford..."; |
| Boyle, John | (1707-1762); 5th Earl of Cork, 5th Earl of Orrery, 2nd Baron Marston; Lord Orrery; one of Swift's earliest biographers; Boyle was the only son of Charles Boyle, a principle in the Phalaris incident which inspired Swift's Battle of the Books; there was apparently some friction between the Boyles, culminating in critical remarks in the father's will; John Boyle met Swift around 1732, coming to Ireland to deal with his family estates on the death of his father; the two saw each other when Boyle was in Dublin and corresponded until Swift's illness prevented him from writing, at which point the Dean's guardians kept Boyle informed of Swift's condition; Boyle used these contacts to gather material for his Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift published in 1751, the first book-length work about Swift; Boyle's work is full of harsh criticism and censure of Swift and his writing ("mainly due to the poverty of Orrery's own mind," Dictionary of National Biography) as well as unsupported assertion and conjecture about Swift's life, setting the tone for Swift criticism and biography for the following centuries; it was a great success, selling out of successive printings in England and Ireland; two responses to Boyle's Remarks were published by Patrick Delaney, a close friend of Swift's for almost 30 years, and Swift's cousin, Deane Swift, who was one of his guardians in his last days. |
| breach of trust | under Lilliputian law "Breach of Trust" is "the greatest Aggravation of the Crime" (I:6;5) |
| Bristol Barrel | about 141 liters (approx. 37 US gallons or 31 Imperial gallons) |
Brobdingnag | ; nation located on an isolated peninsula off the northwest coast of North American, inhabited by giants, of human form, 60 ft. tall; site of Gulliver's second recorded voyage; translates into "England" [Clark]; see also alternate spelling Brobdingrag |
| Brobdingrag | alternate spelling of Brobdingnag;
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| brought off | convinced or persuaded; "his Majesty resolving, if possible, to spare your Life, at last brought off the Chamberlain." (I:7;13 |
| Brundrecal | Lilliputian holy text; "their Alcoran" (I:4;4); i.e., Al Koran; translates as "Alcoran" or "blunder all" "all blunder" [Clark] |
| Buccaneers | pirates, especially those preying on the Spanish American coast during the 17th and 18th centuries; in Part IV, having lost part of his crew to Calenture (fever) Gulliver recruits new men from Barbados and the Leeward Islands; "I found afterwards that most of them had been Buccaneers. (IV:1;2); the crew mutinies, planning to use the ship to plunder Spanish trade; after keeping him captive in his cabin for some time, they set him down on an island unknown to them (which Gulliver names "Houyhnhnm Land"); in each successive voyage, the means which propel Gulliver into his adventures represent increasing degrees of human evil; in Part I, he is shipwrecked by navigational error and saves himself by swimming to shore; Part II, his is abandoned by a shore party when they are chased by a giant; Part III, his ship is taken by pirates and he is set adrift in a boat; and Part IV, his crew mutinies, the highest crime at sea |
| bullets | see also firearms |
| Burglum | Lill.; undefined; possibly "fire" or another cry of alarm; "murder" or "burglar" [Clark].
"by which being suddenly awaked, I was in some kind of Terror. I heard the word Burglum repeated incessantly:"(I:5;9) |
| Burton, Edmund | Gulliver's father-in-law; father of Mary Burton, Lemuel Gulliver's wife; a hosier with a business in Newgate Street, London; (I:1) |
| Burton, Mary | wife of Lemuel Gulliver; daughter of Edmund Burton (I:1) |