Homer's linguistic forebears

1992 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Wyatt

M. L. West has recently presented a magisterial account of the history of Greek epic in which Aeolic phases and other entities are assumed. His account is the more impressive because it combines linguistic features skilfully handled with an account of the thematic development of epic, and also specifies at what stages the various linguistic features entered the tradition. West assumes an Aeolic phase, or phases, of heroic epic composition, and accounts for the presence of Aeolic forms (162): ‘It has usually been inferred that they are just a residue left after Ionian poets had adapted an Aeolic poetic language into their own dialect as far as it would go. This is, I have no doubt, the correct interpretation.’ I think it is not.


Author(s):  
Natal'ya Yu. Gvozdetskaya ◽  

The paper is an attempt to analyze the methods of representing specific features of the language of the Old English poem Beowulf in the Russian literary translation of Vladimir Tikhomirov: alliterative collocations, synonymic groups, compounds and epic variations. These specific features of Old English poetic language are rendered in the translation through the diction of different stylistic coloring – both the high-style, even archaic words as well as the everyday words close to colloquialisms. Following the Old English poet, the translator uses the oral-epic manner of narration, neither reducing it to a limited stylization, nor turning it into an innovative experiment. The translator manages to convey the ability of the Old English poetic language to coin new compounds through creating ‘potential’ words that reveal the ‘open’ character of the Old English synonymic systems. The Russian translation of Beowulf is considered in the context of the history of English translations of the poem as well as studies of Old English and Old Scandinavian literature in Russia.



Author(s):  
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra ◽  
Adrian Masters

Scholars have barely begun to explore the role of the Old Testament in the history of the Spanish New World. And yet this text was central for the Empire’s legal thought, playing a role in its legislation, adjudication, and understandings of group status. Institutions like the Council of the Indies, the Inquisition, and the monarchy itself invited countless parallels to ancient Hebrew justice. Scripture influenced how subjects understood and valued imperial space as well as theories about Paradise or King Solomon’s mines of Ophir. Scripture shaped debates about the nature of the New World past, the legitimacy of the conquest, and the questions of mining, taxation, and other major issues. In the world of privilege and status, conquerors and pessimists could depict the New World and its peoples as the antithesis of Israel and the Israelites, while activists, patriots, and women flipped the script with aplomb. In the readings of Indians, American-born Spaniards, nuns, and others, the correct interpretation of the Old Testament justified a new social order where these groups’ supposed demerits were in reality their virtues. Indeed, vassals and royal officials’ interpretations of the Old Testament are as diverse as the Spanish Empire itself. Scripture even outlasted the Empire. As republicans defeated royalists in the nineteenth century, divergent readings of the book, variously supporting the Israelite monarchy or the Hebrew republic, had their day on the battlefield itself.



2021 ◽  
pp. 90-108
Author(s):  
Владимир Сергеевич Коробов

В статье рассматривается история толкования отрывка из Евангелия от Иоанна: « Отец Мой более Меня » (Ин. 14, 28). Тема, которой посвящена статья, является частью исследования богословской проблематики Константинопольских Соборов 1166 и 1170 гг. Церковная деятельность византийского императора Мануила I Комнина была противоречивой и не исключала вмешательства латинских богословов. Цель настоящей статьи - показать святоотеческое понимание спорного места для правильной интерпретации решений Константинопольских Соборов 1166 и 1170 гг. и их оценки с православной позиции. Структура статьи имеет традиционную рубрикацию, соотносительную историческим периодам: доникейский, арианские споры IV в., христологические споры V-VII вв., поздневизантийская традиция. Для богословского анализа Ин. 14, 28 мы обращаемся к диахронно-синхронному методу, который заключается в изучении толкований стиха на разных исторических этапах. Метод опирается на анализ фрагментов, полученных при поиске в базе данных греческих текстов (TLG). Наиболее употребительными толкованиями стиха «Отец Мой более Меня» (Ин. 14, 28) являлись триадологическое и христологическое. Первое означало, что Отец больше Сына, как Виновник Его бытия. Второе объяснялось в контексте Домостроительства и включало две стороны, дополняющие друг друга: Спаситель имеет в виду Свою человеческую природу и в то же время подразумевает добровольное уничижение и умаление Своего божества (кеносис). The article examines the history of interpretation of the passage from the Gospel of John: «My Father is greater than Me» (John 14, 28). The topic of the article is part of a study of the theological problems of the Councils of Constantinople in 1166 and 1170. The Church activities of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus were contradictory and did not exclude the intervention of latin theologians. The purpose of this article is to show the patristic understanding of the controversial place for the correct interpretation of the decisions of the Councils of Constantinople in 1166 and 1170. and their assessments from an Orthodox perspective. The structure of the article has a traditional rubrication, correlating to historical periods: ante-Nicene, Arian disputes of the 4th century, Christological disputes of the 5-7 centuries, late Byzantine tradition. For theological analysis, Jn. 14, 28 we turn to the diachronous-synchronous method, which consists in studying the interpretations of the verse at different historical stages. The method is based on the analysis of fragments obtained by searching the database of Greek texts (The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae®). The most common interpretations of the verse «My Father is greater than Me» (John 14, 28) were triadological and Christological. The first meant that the Father is greater than the Son, as the Author of His existence. The second was explained in the context of the Economy and included two sides complementary to each other: The Savior means His human nature and at the same time implies the voluntary humiliation and belittling of His deity (kenosis).



Author(s):  
Любовь Николаевна Арбачакова ◽  
Ирина Анатольевна Невская

В данной статье на примерах расшифрованных рукописных текстов героических сказаний рассматриваются индивидуальные особенности словоупотребления сказителей. Сказители используют сходные стилистические и коммуникативно-прагматические средства. Во-первых, каждого из сказителей отличают особенности их родного диалекта или говора, как лексические, так и грамматические. Во-вторых, для современных сказителей типично широкое использование русских заимствований, как глобальных копирований, так и частичных. В-третьих, практически все исполнители используют просторечные стяженные формы глаголов, местоимений, существительных, характерные для устной речи. В-четвертых, сказители очень часто используют предпочитаемые ими коммуникативно-прагматические частицы, которые достаточно сложно перевести на русский язык и которые в обработанных фольклорных текстах часто опускаются их издателями (полза; тедир; ноо). В-пятых, у каждого исполнителя есть собственная (индивидуальная) лексика, употребляемая им во время эпического исполнения. Устный регистр исполнения эпического текста делает особенно проминентным использование коммуникативно-прагматических частиц. Каждый из рассмотренных сказителей предпочитает ту или иную частицу при том, что практически все они при исполнении используют все вышеупомянутые частицы. Эти частицы принадлежат устному регистру исполнения текста, помогая сказителю психологически настроиться на дальнейшее исполнение, собраться с мыслями и т. п. В то же время они выполняют важные семантические и прагматические функции. Тедир подчеркивает пересказывательность текста: как говорят, насколько я могу судить, по мере моего понимания, насколько я видел или слышал, как оказалось и т. п. Изä употребляется как маркер верности передачи смысла эпоса. Полза, широко использующееся в шорском языке как частица, маркирующая смену темы высказывания, в эпических текстах может становиться частицей, служащей для выражения повествовательного стилистического приема саспенс, помогающего сказителю повысить интерес слушателя к продолжению текста. При общности этих особенностей для всех представителей современного поколения сказителей конкретный выбор того или иного полнозначного слова, его формы или прагматической частицы являются индивидуальными для каждого из сказителей. По этим «собственным» сказительским словоупотреблениям и предпочтениям, как по почерку, можно определить личность кайчи. This article deals with individual peculiarities of word usage by Shor storytellers (qaychi’s). We have analyzed (and, partially, deciphered) a row of manuscripts of Shor heroic epic stories and delineated some linguistic features typical for a certain storyteller. Storytellers use similar or identical stylistic devices and communicative and pragmatic means. Firstly, each storyteller preserves the features of his or her dialect or subdialect, both lexical and grammatical ones. Secondly, modern storytellers widely use Russian borrowings as global or partial copies. Thirdly, practically all storytellers use typical for the spoken language contracted forms of verbs, verbal forms, pronouns and nouns. Fourthly, storytellers abundantly use communicative and pragmatic particles of their choice. Such particles are difficult for translation into Russian; they are often omitted in written editions of epic texts (e. g. polza, tedir, noo, etc.). Fifthly, each storyteller has its own individual expressions and words. The oral register of telling an epic story makes the use of communicative and pragmatic particles especially prominent. Each storyteller has his or her preferred particles used most often, although, of course, all particles can be used by any storyteller. Such particles help the storyteller to collect his or her thoughts, to communicate with the listeners, etc.; moreover, they fulfill very important semantic and pragmatic functions: Tedir stresses the hearsay evidentiality of epic texts or a certain distance of the speaker to the narrated events meaning ‘as one says, as people say, as far as I can judge, as far as I could understand, it has appeared (to me), etc.’ Izä in epic texts stresses the adequacy of a narration. Polza is used in Shor as a particle marking switch reference (as for …); in epics, it is a particle serving as a stylistic device suspense, and helping to raise the interest of the listeners in the continuation of the story. Even if these features are common to all storytellers whose epic texts we have analyzed, their choices of a certain word, expression or form are individual. Certain words and peculiarities of their usage indicate the personality of a storyteller, similar to his typical handwriting; both of them are individual and unique. Moreover, some usages give a clue to the emotions and the state of mind of the qaychi during his performance.



2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 468-484
Author(s):  
Carol Atack

Abstract Plato’s survey in Laws book 3 of the development of human society from its earliest stages to the complex institutions of democratic Athens and monarchical Persia operates both as a conjectural history of human life and as a critical engagement with Greek political thought. The examples Plato uses to illustrate the stages of his stadial account, such as the society of the Cyclops and the myths of Spartan prehistory, are those used by other political theorists and philosophers, in some cases also drawing on the presence of the same stories in classical Greek epic and tragedy. By incorporating his critique into a timeline Plato is able to suggest that some approaches are limited in scope to specific social conditions, whereas his Athenian Stranger presents his analysis from an external and superior viewpoint, looking down on human society from above.



2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul T. Roberge

As a phenomenon to be explained, convergence in historical linguistics is substantively no different than in creolistics. The general idea is that accommodation by speakers of “established” languages in contact and the formation of new language varieties both involve a process of leveling of different structures that achieve the same referential and nonreferential effects. The relatively short and well-documented history of Afrikaans presents an important case study in the competition and selection of linguistic features during intensive language contact.



Author(s):  
Ravinder Gargesh ◽  
Pingali Sailaja

This chapter traces the history of English in the countries of South Asia, including the political, economic, educational, and social impact of the language on the region. The major debates and processes that led to the institutionalization of the language are highlighted. It then presents an outline of the typical linguistic features and also their variation across the region. Some of the consequences of the multilingual context and the need to communicate by a wide spectrum of groups led to the development of sub-varieties and widespread code-switching; the chapter discusses these phenomena as well. Some theoretical approaches that aim to explain some of the aspects of the linguistic features rather than merely describe the data are then presented.



1986 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Hooker

The late Colin Macleod's commentary on Iliad 24 (Cambridge, 1982) has rightly received praise for its sensitivity to the nuances of Homeric language and its appreciation of the entire poem as a carefully constructed work of art. Although reluctant to accept the more radical solutions proposed by the ‘oral’ school, Macleod showed himself fully aware of the contribution made by the oral theory towards elucidating the history of the epic. Nevertheless, his commentary is concerned principally with the Iliad as we have it: a poem which is at one level a masterly re-telling of saga but at another a sublime tragedy, commiserating the sorrows inseparable from human existence and holding up for our admiration the heroes who nobly confront pain and death. I believe that much, and probably most, of the Iliad can and should be viewed in this light. The last book of all, as Macleod himself has shown, offers especially rich rewards to an interpreter who keeps in the front of his mind the overriding aims of the great poet. Yet Macleod's method, like any other single method, will never yield a fully satisfactory answer on all occasions. However the ‘definitive’ or ‘monumental’ composition of the Iliad was brought about, it formed only one stage (though from our point of view incomparably the most important stage) in the development of the Greek epic. Our Iliad cannot have been the first or the only treatment, on a large scale, of the matter of Troy.



2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-28
Author(s):  
Amelie Bendheim

AbstractStarting from the deficiencies of current approaches regarding the description of the hero in medieval narratives, this article aims to functionalise exorbitance (unmâze) as a new category of literary history. Unlike the conceptual and binary typing of the protagonist as ‘hero’ resp. ‘knight’, this category promotes a flexible model that operates relationally and hence enables gradual differentiations between the texts.Examples of medieval (heroic) epic (‘Nibelungenlied’) and (chivalric) romance (‘Flore und Blanscheflur’, ‘Wigalois’) will show the narrative treatment and stylisation of the exorbitant hero. The focus will be on the varying assessments of his acts: If the epic hero is able to defy social norms and current laws (cf. Siegfried’s courtship, Hagen’s murdering of Siegfried) without being penalised, the exorbitance in the romance falls within the scope of ‘ratio’. Thus, exorbitance is on the one hand confined and ‘assessed’, on the other hand excessive acts are rigorously sanctioned and inhibited. Referring to the current manifestations of exorbitance in the socio-political context, the concept of exorbitance emerges as an unchanged productive pattern. Its socio-political relevance encourages a literary-historical, epoch-spanning use of this concept, whose scope is a re-assessment of the history of literature as the history of exorbitance.



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