QUESTIONS ARISING FROM 84th. MEETING – 14/12/17
(the record of earlier meetings can be  downloaded from the main Circulus page. The illustrated text of Genesis is available on the Genesis page) 

  With two new members attending, use was made of one of the standard forms for introductions, Tibi/vōbīs aliquem trādō, literally `I hand someone over to you.’ We had the usual discussion of words for food, whether on the table or not, including different ways of translating daufu/tofu (豆腐): this can be by simple transliteration (daufum, -ī n) or with a description or paraphrase using attested Latin words (caseus ē fabīs confectus, `cheese made from beans’, or caseus fabārum `cheese of beans’). We also again noted how Latin refers to meat by combining the generic word (carō, carnis f) with adjectives from the names of specific animals. As with other frequent noun-adjective collocations, the noun is normally omitted as context allows the listener/reader to supply it (e.g. (manus) dextera for `right-hand’). So (carō) gallinācea/bubula/angina/porcīna for chicken, beef, lamb, pork respectively.
 
We briefly discussed bacon, which Malcolm though had been originally introduced to Britain from Denmark. The origin of the word itself is explained as follows by www.etymonline.com:  `early 14c., "meat from the back and sides of a hog" (originally either fresh or cured, but especially cured), from Old French bacon, from Proto-Germanic *bakkon "back meat" (source also of Old High German bahho, Old Dutch baken "bacon"). Slang phrase bring home the bacon first recorded 1908; bacon formerly being the staple meat of the working class and the rural population (in Shakespeare bacon is a derisive term for "a rustic")'
 
The Latin word for bacon is lārdum (or lāridum), -ī n, which can refer either to bacon in general or specifically to bacon fat, this secondsense, of curse, leading naturally to that of the English derivative `lard’.
 
Also touched upon was the poor but not entirely undeserved international reputation of British cuisine. Malcolm suggested that the absence of the salt tax, imposed throughout most of continental Europe but not in Britain, led the Brits to rely excessively on salt for seasoning while the continentals  experimented instead with diverse sauces.
 
We were, as usual, drinking vīnum rubrum/sanguineum (red/`bloody’ wine) and discussed alcohol consumption in the UK. This peaked in  2004 and has fallen off since then. Since 1990 there has been a trend away from traditional beer drinking towards wine but beer still accounts for the largest share of alcohol drunk and wine consumption, after rising steadily till 2007, now seems to have leveled off,.
 
Malcolm, who has a strong interest in military history, recommended Stephen Dando-Collins’ book Legions of Rome (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Legions-Rome-definitive-history-legion/dp/1849162301/) for  histories of individual legions. Another useful reference on the army is Adrian Goldsworthy’s The Complete Roman Army (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Roman-Army/dp/0500288992/). Malcolm has himself comtemplated writing a history of the Vietnam War and regards a lot of existing accounts as obsessed with the American side and with guilt, though he recommended the PBS documentary series on the war. John asked whether China’s invasion of Vietnam shortly after the North’s victory in the conflict was motivated partly by concern for ethnic Chinese who were being dispossessed by the regime but Malclom though China was acting purely from geo-strategic considerations, wishing to punish Vietnam for its own invasion of Cambodia. On the history of Chinese-Vietnamese hostility, much more long-lasting than conflicts with the French and the American, he recommended the Penguin History of Modern Vietnam (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-History-Modern-Vietnam/dp/0141047011/). which, despite its title, devotes a lot of space to earlier periods. John also wondered whether, just as many people question whether the successful blocking of Germany’s bid for hegemeony in Europe in WWI was worth the human cost, one could aks whether the unification of Vietnam was worth the lives of 3 million Vietnamese. Malcolm thought that the Vietnamese today generally thought the sacrifice had been worthwhile.

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​
We also discussed the term gweilo, one still resented by many of the group concerned though many others are happy to accept it as an informal alternative to `Caucasian’ or `Westerner.’ Malcolm suggested that an originally pejorative label was more readily accepted if the group in question was in a privileged position. John agreed but said he had observed in some gweilo the same kind of minority psychology. – including seeing slights even where they were not really intended- as displayed by less secure groups. An informative recent article on the g-word and other names for pale-skinned foreigners is at http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/2111173/where-word-gweilo-comes-and-other-names-east-asians-have There is a dispute within the Circulus on the best Latin translation of gweilo, John liked umbrivir (`ghost man’) whilst Pat preferred vir daimoniacus (`devilish man’).

                                                     European merchant in Hong Kong in 1858

​Mention was naturally made also of Martin Booth’s Gweilo: a Memoir of a Hong Kong Childhood, a magical recreation of life in the territory in the early 1950s seen through the eyes of a 7-year-old (many favourable reviews can be found at  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gweilo-Memories-Hong-Kong-Childhood/dp/0553816721/).  John recommends the book as a good present for gweilos who object to the term itself, since if reading it does not cure them they are simply beyond help! The American title is Golden Boy, reflecting the tendency of many locals to regard Martin’s blonde hair as a good luck talisman. John thought this change was not so much an attempt to avoid politically incorrect language as part of an American tendency to steer clear of words that might not be instantly recognised by all readers- the publication in the USA of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone under the title Harry Potter and the Wizard’s Stone was another example.Martin Booth who wrote Gweilo at his children’s request when he knew he was dying of brain cancer, was a prolific writer, his output including Opium: a History and Cannabis: a History.
 
We briefly discussed other informal ethnic labels, including 紅毛 (`red-hair’) and the still current hung sou lok ngaan (紅鬚綠眼. `red beard green eyes’). The first of these is included in the title of one of the earliest known English textbooks for Chinese learners, Hong Mao Tong Yong Fan Hua (literally 'Common Foreign Expressions of the Red-Haired People')  
Bob Adamson includes this description of it in his China’s English: a History of English in Chinese Education
(https://books.google.com.hk/books?isbn=9622096638):
 
`Dating back to the 1830s, [the book] presents approximate transliterations in Chinese characters, which, when pronounced in the Cantonese dialect, resemble English and other European terms for numbers, weights, measures, jobs, commodities, relationships, geographical locations, colours, common adjectives, furniture, utensils and colloquial expressions for trade and conversation.’

Copy of Hong Mao Tong Yong Fan Hua in the British Library (reproduced in Frances Wood, ​The Lure of China: History and Literature from Marco Polo to J.G. Ballard.

The word `Chink’ is still considered highly derogatory, though may of course be safely used by Chinese people themselves, including in David Tang’s book A Chink in the Armour, a punning use of an English idiom meaning a vulnerability (see https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chink-Armour-2nd-David-Tang/dp/9881921813)
 
We read the first three sections of Iohannes Kepler’s Somnium (`The Dream’), an early example of science fiction, authored  by the 17th century astronomer whose laws of planetary motion paved the way for Newton’s theory of gravitation (see text below). The author describes how the narrator, an Icelandic boy, who is supposed to have studied under the Danish astronomer Tycho Brae at his observatory on Ven island, is taken to the moon by a friendly demon. The work was brought to John’s attention after a member of a Latin reading group saw a piece on it by an Apple Daily columnist (see https://hk.lifestyle.appledaily.com/lifestyle/columnist/馮睎乾/daily/article/20171118/20217668). The text is currently being published in short sections, at https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/, with accompanying English translation, and there is a complete English translation with extensive notes in Edward Rosen’s Kepler’s Somnium: the Dream. or Posthumous work on Lunar Astronomy, previewable at https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=OdCJAS0eQ64C . The Latin text can be found in full at https://books.google.it/books?id=d5Ywr7FI13cC and a description of the work in English at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(novel)

 Reconstruction of Tycho Brae’s observatory on Ven island in the strait between Denmark and Sweden 

We noted Kepler’s rather unclassical use of present participles to refer to actions taking place before that of the main verb, as in English `Leaping into the saddle, he rode off into the sunset.’ His style also involved a rather lose piling up of subordinate clauses which made it a little difficult to read. John was a little surprised by the reference to St. John the Baptist as Dīvus Iōhannēs, since he understood the adjective to imply someone was actually a god (as in its use to refer to Roman emperors who had been deified by the Senate after their death). He realized later, however, that it could mean simply possessing a special connection to or knowledge of God, as in the English phrase `St John the Divine’. We also noted that Kepler was a deeply religious man and Keith tracked down a quote from him about the knowledge of astronomy enabling us to share in God’s thoughts.
 
We finally set out to read chapter 13 of Genesis (the continuing story of Abraham after his return from Egypt) but only reached verse 10 before the staff told us they were closing. The text is given below and the full chapter with maps of Palestine and the Nile Delta is in genesis.doc, a download from https://linguae.weebly.com/biblia-sacra.html
 
Shortly before that we had discussed briefly the forced conversion of the Baltic states to Christianity and Tanya explained how in the 19th centrury some Lavian nationalists had advocated a return to paganism. Her own grandfather had been one of this group and her grandmother, a Catholic, had been excommunicated by the church for marrying him.

SOMNIUM
 
I. Cum annō 1608 fervērent dissidia inter frātrēs Imp. Rudolphum et Matthiam
   When    in-year 1608  were-raging  quarrels  between  brothers Emperor     Rudolph  and  Matthias
Archiducem,[1] eōrumque actiōnēs vulgō ad exempla referrent[2] ex historiā Bohemicā
arch-duke           and-their     actions   commonly to  precedents     referred     form    history   Bohemian
petīta, ego pūblicā vulgī cūriōsitāte excitus ad Bohemica legenda[3] animum appulī.
sought    I   by-public of-masses   curiosity     aroused   to  Bohemian-things being—read  mind    applied
Cumque incidissem in historiam Libussae[4] virāginis,[5] arte magicā celebrātissimae,
And-when     I-had-fallen  into    story      of-Libussa   virago      from-art   magic     most-famous
factum quādam nocte, ut post contemplātiōnem sīderum et Lūnae lectō compositus
it-came-about on-a-certain night that  after      contemplation       of-stars  and  of-moon on-bed  placed
altius obdormiscerem , atque mihi per somnum vīsus sum librum ex nūndīnis allātum
quite-deeply    I-fell-asleep      and   to-myself in  sleep       seem  I-did    book   from     market   brought
perlegere, cujus hic erat tenor:
to-read-through   of-which this  was content

NOTES
[1] Rudolph II, a member of the Habsburg dynasty, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1576 to 1612. Hungary was part of his dominions but after its people, exhausted by a never-ending war against Turkey, revolted, his family in 1605 forced him to put his brother, Archduke Matthias, in charge of Hungarian affairs. In 1608, after Rudolph opposed Matthias’s concessions to the Turks and the Hungarian rebels, his brother forced him to cede the thrones of both Hungary and Austria to him. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor  Matthias also assisted Bohemian (i.e. Czech) Protestant rebels against Rudolph and supplanted him as King of Bohemia in 1611. Rudolph had a great interest in astrology and both Kepler and Tycho Brahe enjoyed his patronage.
[2] Taking actionēs as subject, this means that their actions caused people to recall events in Bohemia. Alternatively, actiōnēs is object and the subject is `they’ (people in general) implicit in referrent .
[3] Bohemica legenda: gerundive phrase, most naturally translated into English with a gerund: `reading Bohemian material’
[4] Libussa was a mythical Czech ruler who had faced a revolt by males.
[5] The word virāgō (a war-like, heroic woman) has been used in literary English and is also the name of a well-known feminist publish company (https://www.virago.co.uk/) 

II.Mihi Duracōto 1 nōmen est, patria Islandia ^2, quam veterēs Thūlēn[1] dīxēre,[2]
   To-me   Duracoto                      name    is    country   Iceland              which    ancients    Thule     called
māter erat Fiolxhildis [3]^3, quae nuper mortua [4]^4, scrībendī mihi peperit licentiam,
mother    was   Fiolxhilde                              who    recently   dead                       of-writing        for-me  has-brought  permission
cujus reī cupiditāte prīdem arsī. Dum vīveret, hoc diligenter ēgit, nē scrīberem ^5.
of-which thing  from-desire  earlier   I-burned  while  she-lived this  diligently  she-secured that-not  I-should-write
Dīcēbat enim, multōs esse perniciōsōs ōsōres artium ^6 quī quod prae hebetūdine
She-said     for             many   to-be   pernicious              haters   of-arts               who   what  from   slowness
mentis nōn capiunt, id calumnientur lēgēsque fīgant injūriōsās hūmānō generī ^7;
of-mind   not    understand that   they-slander    and-laws     fix       injurious     to-humjan   race
quibus sānē lēgibus nōn paucī damnātī ^8 Heclae[5] vorāginibus fuerint absorptī [6]^9.
By-which   indeed  lawa   not   few     condemned     of-Hekla     by-chasms     were    absorbed
Quod nōmen esset patrī meo ^10 ipsa nunquam dīxit, piscātōrem fuisse et centum
What     name    was    to-father my   she-herself     never   said   fisherman  to-have-been and    hundred
quīnquāgintā annōrum senem dēcessisse perhibēbat, mē tertium aetātis annum agente,
fifty               of-years    old-man to-have-died  she-used-to-maintain with-me third   of-age     year    doing
cum ille septuāgēsimum plūs minus annum in suō vīxisset mātrimōniō ^11. Prīmīs
when  he     seventieth         more   less    year    in  his   had-lived  marriage             in-first
pueritiae annīs māter mē manū trahēns interdumque humerīs sublevāns crebrō
of-childhood  years    mother me  by-hand  pulling   and-sometimes    on-shoulder   lifting-up    frequently
addūcere est solita in humiliōra juga montis Heclae ^12, praesertim circā festum dīvī
to-take    was accustomed onto    lower    ridges  of-Mount  Hekla        especially    around  feast   of-godly
Joannis,[7] quandō Sol tōtīs 24 hōrīs[8] cōnspicuus noctī nūllum relinquit locum ^13.
John                       when     sun  for-all 24       hours                    visible     for-night   no                    left       place
Ipsa herbās nōnnūllās legēns multīs caeremōniīs domīque coquēns ^14 sacculōs
She-herself herbs    some      picking  with-many  rituals        and-at-home    cooking     little-sacks
factitābat ex pellibus caprīnīs , quōs īnflātōs ad vīcīnum portum venum importāns prō
she-used-to-make from   skins  of-goats     which  filled    to    neighbouring   port   for-sale  carrying     for
nāvium patrōnīs ^15 victum hōc pactō sustentābat.
ships’      captains         living    by-this  arrangement she-used-to-earn

NOTES
[1] Thūlē is described in classical authors as an island in the far north of Europe and this is generally taken as a reference to Iceland or to Mainland, the largest island in the Shetlands.
[2] dīxēre = dīxērunt.
[3] Kepler, whose own mother was accused of witchcraft in 1620, explains he combined the name `Fiolx’ for places in Iceland on an old map and the `hilda’ element in names such as `Brunhilda’. `Fiolx’’ might be a misreading of `fjörđr’ (`fjord’)
[4] English would prefer an abstract subject: `whose recent death’.
[5] Hekla, a large volcano in the south of Iceland, known in the Middle Ages as the `Gateway to Hell.’ Kepler himself in his note 2 mentions the idea that Hekla was actually the gateway to Purgatory, a notion probably derived from the writings of the 16th century Swedish bishop Olaus Magnus (see Rosen, Kepler’s Somnium pg, 48, fn,76,  https://books.google.com.hk/books?id=OdCJAS0eQ64C )
[6] fuerint absorptī (with perfect subjunctive of the auxiliary verb itself) is an alternative to the more usual sint absorptī (present subjunctive auxiliary producing the perfect subjunctive verb phrase). The subjunctive is required by the subordinate clauses within reported speech.
[7] The Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist on 24 June.
​[8] hōrīs: ablative plural for length of time, instead of classical accusative, is also found in the Vulgate.

III.Cum aliquandō per cūriōsitātem rescissō sacculō, quem māter ignara vēndēbat,
   When        once    out-of     curiosity   having-been-cut   bag   which mother   unaware  was-trying-to-sell
herbīsque et linteīs ^16, quae acū picta   variōs praeferēbant charactērēs, explicātīs,
and-with-herbs and linen-strips  which with-needle embroidered various      carried      symbols        spilled-out
ipsam hōc lucellō fraudāssem:[1]  māter īrā succēnsa mē locō sacculī nauclērō
her     out-of-this little-profit   I-had-cheated   mother with-anger on-fire  me in-place of-sack  to-captain
proprium addīxit, ut ipsa pecuniam retinēret. Atque is postrīdiē ex īnspērātō solvēns 
as-his-own    bound   so-that she-herself  money  might-retain  and   he   next-day  from  unexpected setting-sail
ē portū, secundō ventō quasī Bergās[2] Nordwegiae tendēbat ^17. Post aliquot diēs
from  port  with-favourable wind  roughly  to-Bergen  of-Norway       was-heading     after     some  days
boreā     surgente ^18 inter Nordwegiam et Angliam dēlātus Dāniam petiit
with-north-wind  arising          between      Norway    and   England   carried-down Denmark  made-for
frētumque ēmēnsus,   cum habēret literās episcopī islandicī^19, trādendās Tychōnī
and-strait    having-passed-through since    he-had  letter     of-bishop   of-Iceland  for-being-handed-over  to-Tycho
Brahe Dānō, quī in īnsulā Wenā[3] habitābat,[4] ego vērō vehementer aegrōtārem ex
Brahe    the-Dane  who in    island  Hven     lived          I     indeed   immensely       was-ill    from
jactātiōne et aurae tepōre insuētō ^20, quippe quatuordecim annōrum adolescēns: nāvī
the-tossing   and   of-air  warmth  unfamiliar    in-as-much-as     fourteen     of-years    adolescent  with-ship
ad lītus appulsā mē apud piscātōrem insulānum ^21 exposuit cum literīs et spē reditūs
to   shore    driven  me    with    fisherman   belonging-to-island   put-ashore  with  letter  and hope  of-return
factā[5] solvit.
made   set-sail

NOTES
[1] fraudāssem = fraudāvissem, pluperfect subjunctive of fraudō (1). Cheat, defraud.
[2] Both Berga (singular) and Bergae (plural) were used for Bergen in medieval Latin.
[3] The island of Hven (Danish) or Ven (Swedish), halfway between Denmark and Sweden, was the site of Tycho Brahe’s observatory and Kepler, who had been Brahe’s apprentice, may have himself spent ti me there. The island was under Danish control until 1658 when it passed to Sweden.
[4] A word like et is really needed here as ego…adolēscēns is also part of the long cum clause starting in the line above.
[5] i.e. after promising to return

GENESIS   Chapter 13
 
1 Ascendit ergō Ābram dē Ægyptō, ipse et uxor ejus, et omnia quæ habēbat, et Lot
  went-up    therefore Abram   from  Egypt    himself and  wife his   and  all-things that   he-had    and Lot
cum eō, ad austrālem plagam.
with   him to   southern      region
2 Erat autem dīves valdē in possessiōne aurī et argentī.
  he-was  moreover  rich  very   in   possession     of-gold and of-silver
3 Reversusque est per iter, quō vēnerat, ā merīdiē in Bethel, usque ad locum ubi prius
  returned-and             is along route by-which he-had -comefrom south   into  Bethel    up    to     place  where before
fīxerat tabernāculum inter Bethel et Hai,
he-had-fixed   tent          between Bethel  and Hai
4 in locō altāris quod fēcerat prius: et invocāvit ibi nōmen Dominī.
   in the-place of-altar  which he-had-made before and  he-invoked there  name    of-Lord
5 Sed et Lot[1] quī erat cum Ābram, fuērunt gregēs ovium, et armenta, et tabernācula.
   but also to--Lot      who  was with  Abram     were     flocks    of-sheep  and  herds    and   tents
6 Nec poterat eōs capere terra,   ut habitārent   simul: erat quippe substantia eorum
 and-not was-able them  to-contain the-land  so-that they-might-inhabit at-same-time was  since     wealth      of-them
multa et nequībant habitāre commūniter.
much   and thy-were-unable  to-live    jointly
7 Unde     et facta est rixa inter pāstōrēs gregum Ābram et Lot. Eō autem tempore
For-which-reason  also made  was quarrel between  shepherds  of-flocks  of Abram and Lot  At-that  moreover time
Chananæus et Pherezæus[2] habitābant in terrā illā.
Canaanite     and  Perizzite    were-living   in    land  that
8 Dīxit ergō Ābram ad Lot: Nē quæsō sit jurgium inter mē et tē, et inter pāstōrēs meōs
 said      therefore  Abram   to Lot    Not please let-there-be quarrel between me and you and  between shepherds   my
et pāstōrēs tuōs: frātrēs enim sumus.
and  shepherds  your   brothers   for   we-are
9 Ecce ūniversa terra cōram tē est: recēde ā mē, obsecrō: sī ad sinistram īeris,    ego
 Behold    whole     land   before  you  is  withdraw from me   I-beg    if   to  left   you-will-have-gone  I
dexteram tenēbō: sī tū dexteram ēlēgeris, ego ad sinistram pergam.
right        will-keep  if  you  right  will-havde-chosen  I   to   left        will-keep
10 Ēlevātīs itaque Lot oculīs, vīdit omnem circā regiōnem Jordānis, quæ ūniversa
    Raised    therefore  Lot  with-eyes  he-saw  all     around  region        of-Jordan  which   all
irrigābātur antequam subverteret Dominus Sodomam et Gomorrham, sīcut paradīsus
was-watered       before      over-threw     the-Lord    Sodom      and   Gomorrha      as     garden
Dominī, et sīcut Ægyptus venientibus in Segor.[3]
of-Lord    and  as     Egypt      to-those-coming into Segor

NOTES
[1] Because Lot is an indeclinable noun it could be regarded here as either dative (as assumed in the translation) or as a genitive. In either case, this is a straightforward statement of possession.
[2] The Perizzites are a frequently mentioned group but nothing is known for certain about them.
[3] Segor (Zoar in the Hebrew) is the name of a city in the Jordan plain, probably SE of the Dead Sea (see below, 14:2). However as this is not on the route from Canaan into Egypt it has been suggested that Zoar is an error for Zoan (the form of the name used in this verse in the Syriac Bible), a city on the eastern side of the Nile Delta, called Tanis in Greek. alternatively the refence is to a fortress on the eastern border of Egypt known as Zor or Zar (http://bibleatlas.org/zoan.htm). If the reading Zoar is correct, the phrase in Segor needs to be connected with omnem circā regiōnem Jordānis and the words between taken as in parenthesis (see http://biblehub.com/commentaries/genesis/13-10.htm). The Latin might then mean `he saw the whole region around the Jordan up to Zoar, which was irrigated..’ and of the Hebrew and Greek `he saw that the whole region……up to Zoar was irrigated…’