# Endnotes explained — Béatrix

> Chapter companion for Béatrix by Honoré de Balzac.

## What happens

This chapter contains a series of endnotes providing brief explanations or translations for terms used in the main text, including a fish, a word derivation, a joke about soy, a pun, and a legal term.

## Key lines

> A sort of fish.

A type of fish.

_Clarifies an obscure term._

> Buis , “whence” (says Balzac) “the word buisson ,” shrub or bush.

Buis, from which Balzac says the word buisson (shrub or bush) derives.

_Explains a word origin._

> Balzac has hannetons , cockchafers. It was an old joke that soy was made of cockroaches. —⁠Translator

Balzac uses the word hannetons (cockchafers); there was an old joke that soy sauce was made from cockroaches.

_Provides cultural context for a joke._

> Unripping a rip.

Undoing a tear.

_Clarifies a pun._

> A legal form by which French sons can reduce the obstinacy of recalcitrant parents when they refuse their consent to a marriage.

A legal procedure allowing French sons to overcome parental refusal of marriage consent.

_Explains a legal term._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/b_atrix_se/chapters/endnotes
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/b_atrix_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/b_atrix_se/chapters