Glossin

“ In more than one instance we had occasion to refer to the glosses as exemplifying different phases of intellectual activity in the Irish monastic school. Here we would emphasise the fact that these glosses furnish another objective proof that the Irish monks studied and taught the classics as well as the writings of the Fathers. There is considerable variety in the glosses. Generally they are in the nature of explanations written usually in Irish or Latin but occasionally in Greek. ”

“ There was so much more reading, now that printing had been invented, that many could read who had never learnt Latin, and so a translation of the Bible was to be made for them, and there was a great desire that the Church Services—many of which had also been in Latin—should likewise be put into English, and the litany was first translated, but no more at present. The king and Crumwell had taken it upon them to go on with what had been begun in Wolsey's time—the looking into the state of all the monasteries. ”

“ Middle High German dëgen, ‘hero.’ There is to phonetic difficulty in connecting these cognates (Gothic þigna-, from teknó-) , as is usually done, with Greek τέκνον, ‘child’; the difference in sense may be paralleled by Anglo-Saxon magu, ‘boy, son, servant, man.’ But since þëgn was already an established technical term in the Old Teutonic system, we must in preference regard ‘vassal’ as the primary sense of the word. We have too in Gothic þius (stem þiwa-) for þigwá-, ‘servant, attendant’ (Anglo-Saxon þeó, þeów, Old High German diu; see Dirne and dienen) , a more suitable connecting link. ”

“ His talent is that of a linguist, not that of a philologist. One forenoon in the Vatican, he spoke modern Greek to a young man who came in, Hebrew with a rabbi or ‘scrittore’ of the library, Russian with a magnate who passed through to the manuscript rooms, Latin and German with me, Danish with a young Danish archæologist who was present, English with the English,—Italian with many. German he speaks well, but almost too softly, like a Hamburgher; Latin he does not speak particularly well, and his English is just as middling. ”

“ The sentence “I long for one who will hear,” is instinct with the yearning of the Divine Love, the eagerness to bestow, the longing to speak if only there be one to hear.
8. There then follows a list of synonyms [Pg 33] of the Cross, every one of which shows that the Cross, if a symbol, must be taken to denote the master-symbol of all symbols. It is the key to the chief nomenclature of the Gnosis and the greatest terms of the Gospel. These terms, it is stated, are used by the Wisdom “for your sakes,” that is, to bring home in many ways to the hearts of men the intuition of the mystery. ”

“ In the remaining Teutonic dialects the terms for Gerste are Gothic baris, Old Icelandic bygg (and barr) , Anglo-Saxon bęre, English barley. Old High German gërsta, from pre-Teutonic ghérzdâ-, corresponds only to the equivalent Latin hordeum (from *horsdeum, primary form *ghṛzdéyo-) ; Greek κριθή, ‘barley,’ is scarcely a cognate. From an Aryan root ghrs, ‘to stiffen’ (Latin horrere for *horsere, Sanscrit hṛš, ‘to bristle up’) , some have inferred Gerste to mean originally ‘the prickly plant’ (on account of the prickly ears) . ”

“ The seeds of human speech, planted in those vast wildernesses, sprouted readily into new and luxuriant languages. English, Flemish, German, French spring from German roots hidden in Celtic soil. The Latin element, afterwards engrafted, is exotic, excrescent, and not vital to the organization. In Italy, where a language, a grammar, a literature already existed in full force, the German element was almost neutralized. The Goths could only deface the noble language of Rome. They gave it auxiliary verbs,—that feeblest form of assistance to human eloquence,—and they took away its declensions. ”

“ Through his divine goodness I got safe into Gloucestershire, where I opened the summer campaign last Sunday. Ever since Tuesday evening, I have been preaching here twice daily. Multitudes fly like doves to the windows. Abiding impressions seem to be made.—This is the Lord’s doing: to Him be all the glory! On next Monday, God willing, I set out for Wales. I know you will follow me with your prayers. I am sure mine always attend you and yours: I love such old steady friends. It is Christ-like, not to be given to change.—Blessed be God for an unchangeable Jesus! ”

“ Instead of the roar of musketry, my ears were accordingly saluted by shouts and exclamations delivered in almost every European tongue. French, English, German, Dutch, Spaniards, Portuguese—the natives, in short, of almost every kingdom—were here; and as each called out in his own language as loud as he could bawl, for the purpose of discovering his comrades, and giving evidence of his own situation, a jargon was produced such as no man has probably listened to before, unless we except the artificers employed long ago in the erection of Babel. ”

“ Probably Middle High German valsch, a comparatively recent formation (compare fein, wach) , from Old High German gifalscón, gifęlscen, verb, ‘to falsify,’ which is derived from a Latin *falsicâre; Romance *falscare, ‘to falsify.’ The assumption that Middle High German valsch (akin to vâlant, ‘demon’?) is primitively allied to Latin fallere, Greek σφάλλεσθαι, is scarcely valid. ”

“ In similar productions of other nations—those, for example, of the Greeks or of the Celts—we find some religious or some patriotic sentiment,—some ideal abstraction or impersonated emotion, for the most part mingling with the tale, and giving all its marvels the character of mythologic miracles or of heroical exploits. But the great mass of ancient German traditions owe their attractiveness and popularity almost entirely to the pure undiluted essence of the wonderful with which they are imbued. ”

“ Let such translators, if they pay any regard to truth, say whether the German language be capable of expressing that which excellent writers in Greek and in Latin have most accurately and argumentatively written on the sublime speculations of the Christian religion and the knowledge of things. They must acknowledge that the poverty of our idiom renders it insufficient, ... they must corrupt the sense of the truth in the sacred writings ... ”

“ Believing the denying ourselves, even in the smallest instances, might, by the blessing of God, be helpful to us, we wholly left off the use of flesh and wine, and confined ourselves to vegetable food,—chiefly rice and biscuit. In the afternoon, David Nitschmann, Bishop of the Germans, and two others, began to learn English. O may we be, not only of one tongue, but of one mind and of one heart. ”

“ It corresponds in the non-Teutonic languages to Greek γλοι, by gradation γλι; compare γλοιός, ‘oil lees, clammy stuff,’ as well as γλίνη and γλιά, ‘glue'; Latin glus, gluten, with û for older oi; Old Slovenian glina, ‘clay,’ glěnŭ, ‘slime’ (Lettic glĭwe, ‘slime’?) . Further Middle High German klënen, ‘to cleave (to) , spread over,’ is connected with the Greek and Slavonic noun with the suffix na. ”

“ Therefore, a gnostic is not incapable of gnosis so long as gnosis is existent, for in that case his gnosis resembles intuition. The saying of Abú Bakr may be brought into connexion with the doctrine of Abú Sahl Ṣu`lúkí and Master Abú `Alí Daqqáq, who assert that gnosis is acquired in the first instance, but finally becomes intuitive. The possessor of intuitive knowledge is compelled and incapable of putting it away or drawing it to himself. Hence, according to what Abú Bakr says, unification is the act of God in the heart of His creature. ”

“ In Modern High German, we have to note the existence of the two declensions (the weak and the strong) . On their uses and that of the third or undeclined form of the adjective in the predicate, the most elementary German grammar will give the student all information. As for the forms of adjectival (and pronominal) declension which are distinct from the noun declension, it is necessary to go back to Anglo-Saxon, or, better still, to Gothic. It is, of course, not necessary to master these languages thoroughly in order to simply compare their systems of inflection. ”

“ The "mother dear" probably answered her boy in the form of cakes and "goody," for there were none of her letters among this set; but a whole collection of the rector's, to whom the Latin in his boy's letters was like a trumpet to the old war-horse. I do not know much about Latin, certainly, and it is, perhaps, an ornamental language, but not very useful, I think—at least to judge from the bits I remember out of the rector's letters. ”

“ Comments on the general aims and methods of translation, happy turns of expression in French or German which had their equivalents in English idiom, must frequently have illuminated his difficulties. The translators of the Geneva Bible show a just realization of the truth when they speak of "the great opportunity and occasions which God hath presented unto us in this Church, by reason of so many godly and learned men; and such diversities of translations in divers tongues." ”

“ Gnostics, heretics, consisting of various sects that arose in the Apostolic age of Christianity, and that sought, agreeably to the philosophic opinions which they had severally embraced, to extract an esoteric meaning out of the letter of Scripture and the facts especially of the Gospel history, such as only those of superior speculative insight could appreciate; they set a higher value on Knowledge (gnosis, whence their name) than Faith ”

“ It is too true a confession when he says that he does not aim at beauty of language. His sentence will begin well, and then grow intricate and involved—in breaks an allusion, not always very relevant, and brings with it a quotation that has captured his fancy and paralyses his grammar—several perhaps—some accommodation is made, and the sentence straggles on, and will end somehow—with a pile of long words, for which others have been patiently waiting since before the quotation, in pendent genitives, accusatives and so forth. ”

“ From this point we first caught a view of the city of Glocester, or rather of its rich ecclesiastical architecture, the summits of which shoot out from the surrounding wood, and present a beautiful and magnificent groupe of towers and spires; whilst the rising hills to the right (amongst which that of Robin-Hood is most conspicuous) cultivated to their tops, present a scene of uncommon splendour and variety. Under the shelter of these elevations Glocester is situated in the long extended vale called by its name, and washed by the majestic Severn, who rolls his waters to the left of the city. ”

“ But besides that more general bearing of the representation, the part and disposition of Gloster afford us from time to time, glimpses of persons and things which connect the representation more directly with the particular point here noted. Men who found themselves compelled to occupy a not less equivocal position in the state, look through it a little now and then; and here, as in other parts of the play, it only wants the right key to bring out suppressed historical passages, and a finer history generally, than the chronicles of the times were able to take up. ”

“ Move, work, and unceasingly persist, and in time there will be a place for what once was and ye shall know its buildings yet again as they were wont to be. The lesser works first: and then cometh one who will build the great church—a son of Glaston from beyond the sea. Even now he waits and watches. We wait and watch and hope with the knowledge that comes to men on the other side. The church is always the church, and in the great schema of the world we come soon and our instrument Glaston shall find a mighty place.... Thus Johannes saith. ”

“ In consulting the Laws of that state, and noticing those instances of strong or faint resemblance between them and the Code of Henry the Second, the Translator acted in deference to the suggestions of a Gentleman, who, though possessed of the most profound legal knowledge, is yet more entitled to our admiration for his singular liberality of sentiment, and urbanity of manners. If the more enlightened mind derive no benefit from the plan which has been adopted in the notes, and anticipate the Result ”

“ But the Church, in spite of Latin and Roman affinities, strove also to come near the German peoples and speak to them in their own tongues. This is borne witness to by the many translations from Latin into Frankish, Saxon, or Alemannish dialects, made by the clergy. Christianity deeply affected the German language. ”

“ Latin, like Greek glossography, had its origin chiefly in the practical wants of students and teachers, of whose names we only know a few. No doubt even in classical times collections of glosses (“glossaries”) were compiled, to which allusion seems to be made by Varro (De ling. Lat. vii. 10, “tesca, aiunt sancta esse qui glossas scripserunt”) and Verrius-Festus (166b .6, “naucum ... glossematorum ... scriptures fabae grani quod haereat in fabulo”) , but it is not known to what extent Varro, for instance, used them, or retained their original forms. ”

“ In that older stage of the language it was common to express an idea like the son of man by constructions just as in Ancient Greek, where the genitive stood between the article and the noun, which were both, of course, in the same case. Thus we find in Old High German, ther (NOM. SING. masc.) mannes sun (= ‘the man’s son’199) . In Anglo-Saxon, Heofona rice ys gelíc ðám hiredes ealdre (‘of heaven’s (the) Kingdom is like the (DAT. sing.) household’s prince’) . ”