Re: Splintered Light (was Re: Steg's wonderful .sig)

From: Boudewijn Rempt <bsarempt@...>

> Yes, that hurt me too. O tempora, o mores... (Not counting the
> first confused moment when I read Legos ;-).
OK, for the benefit of those who don't know:

Lo=B7gos n. 1. Philosophy. a. In pre-Socratic philosophy, the principle
governing the cosmos, the source of this principle, or human reasoning ab=
out
the cosmos. b. Among the Sophists, the topics of rational argument or the
arguments themselves. c. In Stoicism, the active, material, rational
principle of the cosmos; nous. Identified with God, it is the source of a=
ll
activity and generation and is the power of reason residing in the human
soul. 2. Judaism. a. In biblical Judaism, the word of God, which itself h=
as
creative power and is God's medium of communication with the human race. =
b.
In Hellenistic Judaism, a hypostasis associated with divine wisdom. 3.
Theology. In Saint John's Gospel, especially in the prologue (1:1-14)
(http://www.cforc.com/kjv/John/index.html), the creative word of God, whi=
ch
is itself God and incarnate in Jesus. In this sense, also called Word.
[Greek. See leg- below.]

This is one of my favorite words.  I've also always admired John from an
artlang standpoint:

1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word wa=
s
God.
1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory=
,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

In the first novel I ever wrote, the cosmology focused on The Word First
Spoken, and how the Word splintered into many words and then many languag=
es.
My cosmology also had its own version of the Babel Text (which I used as =
the
Fall From Grace in this mythos), and culminated in a Pentecost-like event=
,
where the heroes of the time were able to divinely speak one another's
languages.

Much of this was inspired by Owen Barfield's work.  Barfield was an Inkli=
ng
and a close friend of C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.  Tolkien said that Barfield
had an incredible influence on his view of language, but mentioned that i=
n
only one place did this peek through into _The Hobbit_:

To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all. There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the langu=
age
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
Bilbo had heard tell and sing of dragon-hoards before, but the splendour,
the lust, the glory of such treasure had never yet come home to him.   (s=
ee
also http://www.langmaker.com/ml0104.htm)

If you haven't read Barfield, I highly recommend Poetic Diction,
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/081956026X/ .  Especially if you a=
re
working on languages close to the beginning of time in your conworld.


Best regards,

Jeffrey Henning
http://www.LangMaker.com/ - Invent Your Own Language
http://www.Jeffrey.Henning.com/ - Santa Paravia & Fiumaccio for Windows