Tuesday 28 January 2014

The Tender Liver's Itch

Last week I posted the results of our intial efforts to translate an excerpt from De bello troiano, by the 12th-century poet Joseph of Exeter.  We didn't get very far, but we persevered.  Below I'll paste the excerpt again, and our complete prose translation.

You can compare what we produced with a version by A.G. Rigg.  We hope to put our own version into poetic form soon!
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Haut minus insignes latebras secretius ornat
Vitalesque colit thalamus et digerit urbem
Interior natura suam. Cor principe motu
Libratum disponit opus, modulamina lingue
Limat pulmo loquax, modico dipensat hiatu
Splen risum, facili fal castigatius ira
Uritur. At teneri titillat mollius equo
Pruritus iecoris meriteque insignia fame
Mergens natiue titulos incestat amoris.
Hoc monstrum non ales edax, non labile saxum,
Non axis torquens non mendax uicerit unda;
Cum bene fracta tepet moriturque sepulta libido,
Respirant plenis incendia pristina fibris.
Sic Helenam totam pars unica mergit et ipsum
Excitat in cladem regnis certantibus orbem.
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By no means less the chamber quite secretly adorns and protects her remarkable and life-giving recesses, and her inner nature shakes apart her own city.  The heart by its principal motion disposes a balanced work, and the loquacious lung polishes the tongue’s melodies, the spleen dispenses laughter through a modest open mouth, the more controlled gall bladder is burned by easy anger.  But the tender liver’s itch titillates more softly than is right and, drowning the signs of her well-earned reputation, defiles the attributes of inborn love.  This monster, not the greedy bird, the toppling rock, the cheating wave, the turning wheel, will conquer; when the well broken and buried lust simmers down, then the original fires breathe again into the engorged entrails.  Thus, the singular part sinks the whole of Helen and stirs up the whole world to ruin in clashing kingdoms.

Anyone know any good rhymes for "gall bladder"?

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Helen of Troy's Remarkable Recesses

In the second part of last week's Latin Therapy, we began tackling a rather challenging poem - as you'll see, we didn't get very far!

It was an excerpt from De bello troiano by the 12th-century poet Joseph of Exeter, and was discussed in a paper at the recent conference to celebrate the completion of the final fascicule of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources.

The excerpt is from Book 4, lines 193-207.  I'll paste the Latin below, followed by our attempt at the first few lines.  Any comments or suggestions welcome!  If you need help, you can download a complete translation, by A.G. Rigg, by clicking on this link.
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Haut minus insignes latebras secretius ornat
Vitalesque colit thalamus et digerit urbem
Interior natura suam. Cor principe motu
Libratum disponit opus, modulamina lingue
Limat pulmo loquax, modico dipensat hiatu
Splen risum, facili fal castigatius ira
Uritur. At teneri titillat mollius equo
Pruritus iecoris meriteque insignia fame
Mergens natiue titulos incestat amoris.
Hoc monstrum non ales edax, non labile saxum,
Non axis torquens non mendax uicerit unda;
Cum bene fracta tepet moriturque sepulta libido,
Respirant plenis incendia pristina fibris.
Sic Helenam totam pars unica mergit et ipsum
Excitat in cladem regnis certantibus orbem.

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No less the chamber quite secretly adorns her remarkable recesses and cultivates the life-giving ones and her inner nature shakes apart her own city.  The heart by its principal motion disposes a balanced work, and the loquacious lung polishes the tongue’s melodies, the spleen dispenses laughter through a modest open mouth, the more controlled gall bladder is burned by easy anger.  (No, that doesn't fill us with pride!)
 

Stephan Blankaart's Lexicon Novum Medicum

To start the first Latin Therapy session of 2014, we  looked at the preface to the fourth edition of Stephan Blankaart's Lexicon Novum Medicum.  I'll paste below the original Latin, and our attempt at a translation.

An interesting challenge was posed by the "libertam" in the final line.  Does it mean freedom, a former female slave, or something else?!

As always, if you have any comments or think you can do better, please let us know!
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Blankaart, Stephan (1690) Steph. Blancardi lexicon novum medicum, Græco-Latinum, cæteris editionibus longe perfectissimum. Lugduni Batavorum: Cornelium Boutesteyn [et] Jordanum Luchtmans
Lectoribus typographum

Hic Habetis hujus Lexici quartam editionem, Lectores; primo ab Auctore editam; secundo in Germania recusam; tertio Londini Anglicè versam; verum quam nunc damus recens revisam, correctam, & uti videtis, auctam. Insuper  adiecti sunt Indices Belgici, Germanici, Gallici et Anglici, addidisset quidam Arabicarum, uti & aliarum Gentium, quæ in hoc Lexico hinc et inde occurrunt, vocabula, imo et Chymicorum Mystica nomina, sed ea vel in opera præcedenti vel explicata sunt, vel ob usum diu obsoletum, studio prætermissa. Leve unicuique forte videbitur Lexica scribere, non negatur: sed arduum sane est de Medicinæ Apicibus tot Chiliadas componere; & si nobis non credas, quæso et ipse faciat quisque periculum, & certè experietur difficultatem. Modus erat ei in hisce rebus colligendis, ideoque breviter omnia tanquam unica mappa, constrinxit; Largiter enim scribere & tædium parit & Auctore & Legenti. Sit ut sit, vix scribitur libertam male, unde non aliquid boni possit decerpi. Vale

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The press to the readers

Here, readers, you have the fourth edition of this Lexicon; the first edited by the Author; the second re-forged in Germany; the third turned into English in London; indeed which now we offer recently revised, corrected and, as you have seen, enlarged.  In addition wordlists have been added in Belgian [Dutch], German, French and English, and having also added some words of the Arabs and other peoples, which in this Lexicon appear here and there, and indeed the Mystical names of the alchemists, but those which are either explained by previous efforts or are obsolete through long use, have been left out deliberately.  Writing dictionaries will perhaps seem easy to some people, it is not denied: but it is really hard to compose so many thousands of words of Medicine; and if you do not believe us, let him, pray, take the risk himself, and he shall certainly experience the difficulty.  This was his method in gathering these things together, and therefore he briefly squeezed everything together as if in a single chart; however more broadly to write also seems to provide tedium both to the writer and his reader.  Be that as it may, the book is hardly so badly written, that nothing good may be plucked from it.  Farewell.