Tintin Trivia Quiz

Name	Appears in	Meaning
Emir Ben Kalish Ezab	Land of Black Gold and The Red Sea Sharks	kalichesap: liquorice juice in Brussels dialect, according to a Wikipedia article. (I have no independent confirmation of the use of this word, but this assertion is repeated all over the web.)
Khemikhal	A City in Land of Black Gold, the chief port in Khemed	chemical

Name	Appears in	Meaning
Kih-Oskh	Cigars of the Pharaoh, The pharaoh of Kih-Oskh, the sign of Kih-Oskh, the Brotherhood of Kih-Oskh, etc.	kiosk: 1. a small construction with one or more open sides, such as a newsstand, etc. 2. a thick column upon which people post notices and advertisements 3. an open summerhouse 4. Chiefly British, a telephone booth Etymology: French—kiosque, a stand in a public park < Turkish—kösk, a villa < Persian—kushk, a villa
Krônick	Bordurian spy in The Calculus Affair	chronic: a condition that persists over a long period of time, as a medical condition
Klûmsi	Bordurian spy in The Calculus Affair	clumsy: bumbling
Dr. A. Leech	Red Rackham’s Treasure	leech: a bloodsucking relative of earthworms, especially Hirudo medicinalis. Formerly widely used to bleed patients, the use of the leech is returning to medicine. Dr. Leech never appears, but Captain Haddock receives a note from him forbidding all alcohol.
Captain Maldemer	Captain of the Ville de Lyon in The Broken Ear	mal de mer, French: seasickness
Marlinspike Hall	Many Tintin Adventures	marlinspike: a pointed tool used in working rope, splicing, marling, etc. Hergé’s model may have been Cheverny, in France.
Arturo Benedetto Giovanni Guiseppe Pietro Archangelo Alfredo Cartoffoli da Milano	An Italian who gives Tintin a ride in The Calculus Affair
Dr. Midge	The Seven Crystal Balls, Prisoners of the Sun	midge: any of several minute dipterous (two-winged) insects, usually in the family Chironomidae; Midge Facts from the University of Nebraska
Nestor	Many Tintin Adventures	The name “Nestor” comes from Nestor, the oldest and wisest of the Greeks besieging Troy, an old and wise man or elder statesman
King Ottokar	King Ottokar’s Sceptre	auto car. Ottokar I of Syldavia should not be confused with the Ottakars (Premsyls) who were Dukes, and later Kings, of Bohemia. Link 1 Link 2 Please e-mail us if you know of better links for the Bohemian Ottakars.
Dr. Patella	Destination Moon, Explorers on the Moon	patella: the bone that forms the kneecap. Dr. Patella is an osteologist, a bone specialist.
Reverend Peacock	Cigars of the Pharaoh	peacock: the male of the peafowl, Pavo cristatus, distinguished by a long iridescent tail
Professor Decimus Phostle	The Shooting Star	fossil: the mineralized remains of an ancient organism; a very outdated or old-fashioned person or thing; in general, anything antiquated decimus: in prescriptions, one tenth (from the Latin for one tenth, and related to decimal, decimate, etc.)
Puschov	Ranko’s handler in The Black Island	push off
Rascar Capac	A mummy that appears in The Seven Crystal Balls and figures in the plot of Prisoners of the Sun	While it’s tempting to read Rascar as “race car,” Rascar Capac is a real mummy. “Capac means powerful and Rascar recalls Huascar, an Inca name,” according to Thierry Appelboom and Julien Struyven in “Medical imaging of the Peruvian mummy Rascar Capac,” in the medical journal The Lancet (1999). The article notes that Hergé drew the mummy preciesly as it is displayed in its glass case in Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels.
Reedbuck	The Seven Crystal Balls, Prisoners of the Sun	reedbuck: any of several yellowish African antelopes of the genus Redunca [1825-35, translation of the Afrikaans rietbok]
Marco Rizotto	The Castafiore Emerald and others.	risotto: an Italian dish of rice cooked with broth and flavored with grated cheese and other ingredients
Rumbaba	In The Broken Ear, the Rumbabas are “the sworn enemies of the Arumbayas.”	Rum baba, a small, sweet leavened cake shaped like a mushroom and flavored with rum.