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Finding facsimiles of ancient texts | ||
Tags: Dead Languages | Literature | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery |  | |
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6339 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 6 22 April 2008 at 5:13pm | IP Logged | ||
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How important are photographic facsimiles in the study of historical, literary, or philosophical works of antiquity? Should students interested in the great books program decide on facsimiles rather than modern day prints? Should students be aware of the five different manuscripts of Aristotle, or just one? How much do they differ from one another?
Because students can't afford to drop a few grand for every facsimile, can they count on the colleges' libraries for them? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ProfArguelles Moderator United States foreignlanguageexper Joined 7057 days ago 609 posts - 2102 votes | Message 2 of 6 27 April 2008 at 6:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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When you are writing your doctoral dissertation, of course you need to begin by discussing the origins and accuracy of the specific text you are going to analyze. For general purposes of reading and discussion, however, I think it is important only to be aware that there may be variant and divergent versions of a great text. Having done that, proceeding to deal with the ideas that are contained in it is much more profitable than digressing into the slough of deconstructionism or other forms of obsessive textual critique.
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 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6504 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 6 02 May 2008 at 7:45am | IP Logged | ||
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Let's all be happy that there are people who take the time and the effort to go back to the sources so that they can produce readable versions of the old texts for the rest of us. When I see certain old handwritten manuscripts or inscriptions on buildings or furniture I'm impressed that there are people who can read them. I have enough problems reading the handwriting of most people on the back of ordinary postcards. The problems become even bigger when you consider that for instance Latin texts (both classical and medieval) contain a lot of abbreviations and graphical signs which are expanded into readable words in even scholarly editions, - which means that the ordinary student is spared a lot of work, but also deprived of the contact with the original written language.
This phenomenon is also found with other languages, - for instance the spelling of Old Norse was much more heterogeneous than you might think on the basis of the printed texts that are sold as Old Norse. The editors have decided on a fairly consistent way to spell Old Norse texts, and hurray for that, because it spares the average student a lot of time. And those who really want to delve into the original spellings are probably in a better position to do so when they have learned the language through the 'adapted' editions. Purists may say that something is lost in the process, but accessibility have a price. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6073 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 4 of 6 11 June 2008 at 10:03am | IP Logged | ||
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I remember coming across a book with facsimiles of medieval manuscripts in my university library. It included a page of theological writing by St. Thomas Aquinas which I could not read at all - it looked almost like a shorthand system. The book gave the Latin that was represented, on the other side of the page. Obviously someone was able to read what Aquinas wrote, but it bore no resemblance to any script I could recognise.
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| Sulpicius Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5828 days ago 89 posts - 91 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 6 13 June 2008 at 5:57am | IP Logged | ||
It's Latin. If you finish a course in Ecclesiastical you could read his verse and prose. It's probably just in calligraphy, since the book was illuminated I am guessing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5952 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 6 of 6 13 June 2008 at 6:17am | IP Logged | ||
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A very good example of Latin prose using calligraphy is found in the Book of Kells, which is housed in the Long Hall Library of Trinity College, Dublin. Unlike the work of Aquinas that William Camden mentions, the Latin in the Book of Kells is very legible.
D.Malone. Edited by DaraghM on 13 June 2008 at 6:18am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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