Georgian Heritage Foundation’s Post

#newbook The new Autumntide of the Middle Ages translation by Diane Webb and edited by Graeme Small and Anton van der Lem is now available in paperback! Be sure not to miss this influential analysis of the late medieval period. (More info: https://bit.ly/3I6mMBK) #Publishing #Academia #university #Leiden #Huizinga #CulturalHistory #History #MedievalHistory

In the realm of languages, there exists a gem that has withstood the test of time, preserving within its words the wisdom, culture, and history of ancient civilizations. Latin, with its rich tapestry of vocabulary and grammatical structure, continues to captivate scholars, linguists, and enthusiasts alike. In this blog post, we embark on a journey to explore the timeless elegance of Latin and its enduring influence on our modern world. https://lnkd.in/dmvPgeBK

#languages are the bearers of #history. Language study, including accents, is therefore another part of the #historyenterprise.

Have you ever heard of textual sensitivity? Have you ever stopped to think how to translate sensitive texts?   No text is sensitive, however, thinking about that makes it sensitive. The sensitivity may be referred to a text that its content is a taboo, or the existence of the text is a taboo. Besides that, when it addresses to issues related to the State, religion, decency or private citizens, as well as it is affected by some modes of sensitivity, such as the sacred, profane, political, or legal topics, some textual and contextual aspects may become this text as sensitive, especially if the content of the text causes a cultural and social shock to its audience. In this sense, this type of translation needs an extra attention!   Do you want to know more about sensitive texts and their translation? I will talk about it at Proft Conference, from November 17th to 18th, in São Paulo. Wait for you there!

What Was The First Sentence Recorded In Polish? By far the biggest challenge in translation services is ensuring the cultural and etymological context of an expression is adequately translated into another language. This is part of what makes translating conversations and fiction so difficult, as the idioms that people inherently use often do not directly convert to another language, and the process of using an expression that conveys not only the denotation but also the myriad meanings is complex. Often it involves going back into the history of a language and exploring why a certain expression is used and what it says about the culture of the people who used it. With that in mind, it is interesting to explore the earliest known origins of Polish, given that due to various historical events, the Polish language only dates back to around the 12th century. Whilst the pagans who lived in Poland prior to this had a strong oral tradition, early writers exclusively used Latin during a period known as the Christianisation of Poland, so very little of this early tradition was kept. Polish existed as a spoken language, but between its emergence in the 10th century to the 12th century, it was not used as a written language compared to Latin, then considered the language of Christianity. The first sign of change was the Book of Henryków, an account mostly in Latin of the history of the abbey of Henryków in Lower Silesia. Whilst most of the 100 pages in the book are written in Latin, there is one particular sentence that is considered to be the earliest written sentence in what we know today as the Polish Language. The phrase, which translates into English as “Come, let me grind and you take a rest”, can be traced to 1280, and from there, the Polish Language would spread and become one of the world’s leading literary traditions.

Why learn Greek and Latin? Is it really worth all that effort? Yes! Classical Greek and Latin are challenging languages, but in addition to vocabulary, grammar, and language learning in general, it is well worth the effort! As Jaimie Althage, who developed CLRC's elementary school program in Classical Greek, expresses it: “As every classicist will tell you, encountering these works in the original language is an experience that can never be equaled by any translation, no matter how skillful. It’s impossible to articulate or categorize all the examples of this (puns! nuances! well-placed rhymes!).” While we are fortunate to have good translations available for most classical texts, nothing can compare with the joy, insight, and depth of understanding that can be acquired by reading these works as they were originally written. The process of translation itself — the observation of cases, tenses, voices, and moods, the identification of clauses, the nuances of vocabulary — not only trains the mind to think clearly but also opens up a world that can be at the same both very similar to and very different from the modern world. Literature is best understood within the context of its own language and culture. Familiarity with the language of the author, its phraseology, its cadence, the choice of words, the position of those words within the line — this is much of the beauty, power, and depth of ancient Greek and Latin. The ability to appreciate the specific diction, word order, and rhetorical emphasis of the original language leads the reader more and more deeply into the poignant struggle of the ancient author for truth, understanding, and beauty. Read more over on our blog and join us on our journey of knowledge exchange: https://lnkd.in/gu5taRW7 #CLRC #OnlineLearning #ClassicalMusings #ClassicalEducation #ClassicalGreek #Classical Latin #Latin

The Greek language, with its deep historical roots and vibrant linguistic nuances, stands as a testament to the cultural and intellectual legacy of the Hellenic civilisation. Spanning thousands of years, the Greek language has played a pivotal role in shaping literature, philosophy, and science. In this exploration, we delve into the fascinating world of the Greek language, tracing its evolution, unique characteristics, and enduring impact on global communication. https://lnkd.in/es3d5xxa

According to Asiatic scholar John H. Watson, it was Dr. Aziz Atiya who introduced the words “coptology” and “coptologist” to the English language. In addition to his role as Professor of Languages and History, Dr. Atiya was tasked with building a center for the study of Arabic and Middle East cultures. Fortunately, Atiya had brought his already sizeable library collection to the University of Utah. Furthermore, he was provided funds to purchase additional books and manuscripts. While making numerous visits to his homeland of Egypt, Atiya was extremely successful in acquiring large quantities of books at very low prices. The rare books collection holds several Coptic manuscripts from Dr. Atiya, including the manuscript featured in this post. Cataloged as “#3 Atiya 1989,” this manuscript was written in Coptic and Arabic and conditionally identified as being from the thirteenth century. A colophon provides the date as the sixth of the Coptic month of Baramudah, the year of the martyrs inscribed in Coptic figures, or the equivalent of a year in the thirteenth century. The manuscript includes text from the Offices of the Holy Week, prior to the Easter season practiced in the Coptic Church. Learn more about this medieval manuscript and our efforts to identify and translate through the use of artificial intelligence and other new language learning technologies on Open Book, the Marriott Library's official rare books blog. #rarebooks #medievealmanuscripts #coptic #arabic #specialcollections #universityofutah #marriottlibrary #artificialintelligence https://lnkd.in/dGA8P8HD

Words of 2023: ask ““Sometimes all you have to do is ask and it leads to all your dreams coming true. Ask those questions. Just ask them. More often than you’d suspect, the answer you get is, “Sure.” Randy Pausch #wordsfor2023 #wordsof2023 #speakwithconfidence #openyourworld #educationmatters chiedere (Italian) cere (Romanian) demander (French) pregunta por (Spanish) verlangen (German) أسأل عن 'as'al ean (Arabic) vragen (Dutch) спросить (Russian) Etimology: Middle English asken, from Old English ascian "ask, call for an answer; make a request," earlier ahsian, from Proto-Germanic *aiskojanan (source also of Old Saxon escon, Old Frisian askia "request, demand, ask," Middle Dutch eiscen, Dutch eisen "to ask, demand," Old High German eiscon "to ask (a question)," German heischen "to ask, demand"), from PIE *ais- "to wish, desire" (source also of Sanskrit icchati "seeks, desires," Armenian aic "investigation," Old Church Slavonic iskati "to seek," Lithuanian ieškau, ieškoti "to seek"). The form in English was influenced by a Scandinavian cognate (such as Danish æske); the Old English would have evolved by normal sound changes into ash, esh, which was a Midlands and southwestern England dialect form. Modern dialectal ax is as old as Old English acsian and was an accepted literary variant until c. 1600. Related: Asked; asking. Old English also had fregnan/frignan which carried more directly the sense of "question, inquire," and is from PIE root *prek-, the common source of words for "ask" in most Indo-European languages (see pray). inspired by @Eva's Flowers