Tag Archives: Language

1808: Squares Eight Times Eight

Posted on July 29, 2020 by corvusfugit

It was a fancy of the eccentric Mr. Pratt…to propose a game of Chess to a friend after dinner without Chessboard and men, and stipulate that instead of describing the moves with the usual prosaic abbreviations, a sort of poetical … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800's, 18th Century, 19th Century, Books, Chess, Great Britain, India, Language, Poetry | Leave a comment

1605: Not the Author of Don Quixote

Posted on April 12, 2020 by corvusfugit

According to Miguel de Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes is not the author of Don Quixote. Nor was the book written in Spanish. Rather, Cervantes tells us, the true author is Cid Hamete Benengeli, the book was written in Arabic, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 17th Century, Books, Don Quixote, Hoaxes, Language, Miguel de Cervantes, Spain, Translation | 4 Comments

1930: Work Must Not Cease

Posted on February 10, 2020 by corvusfugit

A performance of Karel Capek’s R.U.R. at the Haohel Theater, Tel Aviv in 1930. The play opens in Rossum’s Universal Robots (thus the title), a factory which manufactures artificial humanoids designed to be perfect obedient workers. At first, the robots … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1920's, 1930's, 20th Century, Automata, Czechoslovakia, Drama, Israel, Karel Capek, Labor, Language, Palestine, Photography, Rebellion | Leave a comment

1966: A Riot is the Language of the Unheard

Posted on January 20, 2020 by corvusfugit

Martin Luther King, Jr. on “60 Minutes,” September 27, 1966.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1960's, 20th Century, African-Americans, Civil Rights, Language, Martin Luther King Jr., Riots, Television, USA | Leave a comment

1895: A-ka-u-ku

Posted on May 12, 2019 by corvusfugit

In 1895, King Njoya of the Bamum, an ethnic group from what is now western Cameroon, invented an alphabet to record the history of his people. Njoya, who traced his linaege back 16 or 17 generations of kings, was insipred … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1890's, 19th Century, Africa, Books, Cameroon, Colonialism, Dreams, France, Language, Njoya, Writing | 1 Comment

1964: Oh, My Mangled Head!

Posted on April 14, 2019 by corvusfugit

In his book Alice in Many Tongues (1964), Warren Weaver spends the last chapter using a curious method to evaluate various translations of Alice in Wonderland. He takes the same passage from each translation—a portion of the Mad Tea-Party—and asks … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1960's, 20th Century, Africa, Alice, Books, Children, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Language, Poetry, Poland, Russia, South America, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Translation, USA, Warren Weaver | Leave a comment

12th Century: The Unknown Language

Posted on August 13, 2018 by corvusfugit

Saint Hildegard, a 12th century German Benedictine abbess, was a mystic, composer, and philosopher who wrote works on topics as diverse as theology, botany, and medicine. She began experiencing visions at the age of three, ultimately chronicling a lifetime of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 12th Century, Books, Christianity, Germany, Hildegard of Bingen, Language, Religion, Saints, Women | 1 Comment

1910: Definition

Posted on June 23, 2018 by corvusfugit

Eervar; the last pig in a litter. This bonnive [sucking-pig] being usually very small and hard to keep alive is often given to one of the children for a pet; and it is reared in great comfort in a warm … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1910's, 20th Century, Animals, Ireland, Language, Mammals, P. W. Joyce, Pigs, Postcards | Leave a comment

1997: Translation / Transformation

Posted on March 11, 2018 by corvusfugit

In a 1997 essay on translation, the writer Harry Mathews cites Marcel Benabou’s version of Keats’s “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”: Ah, singe débotté, / Hisse un jouet fort et vert! It’s not quite a translation: the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1990's, 20th Century, Animals, Art, Austria, France, Gabriel von Max, Harry Mathews, John Keats, Language, Mammals, Marcel Benabou, Monkeys, Opera, OULIPO, Painting, Poetry, Translation, USA | 1 Comment

1635: A Kind of Speech They Could Not Understand

Posted on February 11, 2018 by corvusfugit

In 1635 at Brampton near Gainsborough an Ash Tree shook both in the Body and Boughs, and there proceeded from thence Sighs and Groans, like those of a Man troubled in his Sleep, as if he felt some sensible Torments. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 17th Century, Books, Great Britain, Language, Oddities, Trees | Leave a comment