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Re: Translation challenge: Fiat lingua

From:R A Brown <ray@...>
Date:Sunday, July 9, 2006, 11:43
Sally Caves wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "R A Brown" <ray@...>
[snip]
>> I do not understand why it should be considered a _distortion_ of the >> original Latin. In any case, which original Latin? Fiat lux..... fiat >> firmamentum....fiat volunta tua... or what? > > > Ray, I don't know what I meant by that tag. Certainly I did not mean > to imply that fiat lingua was a distortion of good Latin. How could > anyone who praises my general intelligence (when I'm not lapsing into > senility) think that? :p
You lapsing into senility! I don't believe it, Sally - you're still a youngster ;) [snip]
> > I'm weary and tired and it's late. And I think the cat hsat on the rug. > Teonaht spelling and pronunciation. To be more precise, on a bunch of > school papers in the corner.
Poor you! I have vague memories of such times. ======================================= I was wrote my mail when I was tired, which is not a good thing 9for example I wrote 'volunta tua' when I know perfectly well that it is 'voluntas tua'). I was rather abrupt & unfair in reply to And's: "And lastly, does the translation challenge wish us to translate the literal meaning of the Latin, or to produce an analogue of how "fiat lux" in Genesis would be translated?" The Latin has more than one literal meaning. But I was unfair in responding to the analog part. In a Judaeo-Christian context, "Fiat lingua" recalls scriptural FIATs, particularly the 'fiat' & 'fiant' in the first chapter of genesis. i.e. it will be associated with *creation*: "Let there be language!" Now clearly that is nonsense in our 'real' world because language has been around for many, many millennia. But Tolkien talks of the creation of a [con]language as an act of sub-creation. Those who create their own conworld can, of course, rightly say: "Let there be language." But: Sai Emrys wrote: [snip] > On 7/7/06, Sai Emrys <sai@...> wrote: > >> Feel free to use a culturally appropriate analogue as you see fit. > > > I thought that was clear... but I'm asking for translation of fiat > *lingua*, not *lux*, and I'd like that aspect to be preserved in the > translation. (I obviously don't insist that 'language' and 'tongue' be > synonymous as here.) Quite so. If one's language(s) is/are those of a conworld, then clearly reference to Judaeo-Christian scriptures is not appropriate; but there may be some other cultural analog in the conworld. As I understand it Sai's challenge is to translate the Latin "Fiat lingua", which can mean 'Let a language be made' or 'Let language be made' but which, because in our culture, of its association with certain phrases in the Judaeo-Christian scriptures, also has the idea of sub-creation. -- Ray ================================== ray@carolandray.plus.com http://www.carolandray.plus.com ================================== "Ein Kopf, der auf seine eigene Kosten denkt, wird immer Eingriffe in die Sprache thun." "A mind that thinks at its own expense will always interfere with language". J.G. Hamann, 1760

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Sai Emrys <sai@...>