Josquin's Classical Log - Graeca non leguntur

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 25 NOVEMBER 2017

This will be a short report for today, because I haven't really had the time for intensive studies over the last few days. I'm suffering from recurring stomach aches that I need to have checked out by the doctor next week and then several items in my flat need to be repaired. Also, I'll finally get back to work at my part-time job next week, so little to no free time for languages!

Gaeilge

Nothing, or as we say in Irish: "Tada!" Well, I tried to start the next story in Dúil, but I'm lacking a bit of motivation right now.

Ἑλληνική

I'm on lesson 10 in Kairós, which introduces the passive voice. This is new for me, because Reading Greek had, until now, only introduced the active and the middle voice. While passive and middle are identical in their present tense forms, the usage is of course a little bit different. Also, the lesson introduces extended infinitives, which sound a bit weird in literal translation. They remind me of the Hebrew infinitivus constructus though.

As I said, I really like Kairós. The only problem is there are no translations of the readings and no answer key to the exercises. I hope this won't be a problem, but it probably will be sooner or later anyway.

In other news, I bought P. A. Draper's Odyssey Reader, which has selections from the Odyssey with full commentary. Yay! I also bought a bilingual copy of Plato's Apology of Socrates, but this will still have to wait.

עברית

I'm taking a break from Hebrew. At the moment, my motivation is pretty low.

संस्कृतम्

Still learning the Devanagari script. I've now memorized most of the consonants and vowel signs, but there's still the diacritcal signs and combined consonants to be covered. Devanagari is pretty complex. The fact that the sign for short /i/ is written before the consonant when in fact the sound follows the consonant doesn't make it any easier...

I hope I can finish the introduction to the script soon and finally turn to Sanskrit grammar and vocabulary. The Cambridge course uses original passages in Sanskrit right from the beginning, so I hope this will be interesting!

[peter]

संस्कृतम्

Still learning the Devanagari script. I've now memorized most of the consonants and vowel signs, but there's still the diacritcal signs and combined consonants to be covered. Devanagari is pretty complex. The fact that the sign for short /i/ is written before the consonant when in fact the sound follows the consonant doesn't make it any easier...

Bengali also has this, with signs before and after consonants (and also around, which Devanagari does not seem to have: in Bengali ke is কে ; ka is কা ; ko is কো ). The issue hits me most when writing by hand, as I often write the consonant without room for the preceding vowel sign. (Typing is ok of course, as the computer sorts it out... but ironically I first tried typing in left-to-right order, like I was writing!) But also when reading, as some of the signs don't stand out clearly for me when printed within a word, so I have to backtrack.

I'm not sure if this makes sense, but I'm trying to train myself to chunk up the consonant and vowel in my head to treat them as a unit. When reading, I try to focus my gaze on the consonants, and see the vowel sign 'in passing': almost like the whole is its own conjunct. This also helps get what I think is the right stress in reading out loud - at least, as I hear Bengali the consonant sound seems to get more emphasis than the attached vowel.

The sign which constantly messes me up though is that for "r". It jumps up on top of the next syllable: for example कुर्ता is kurta - the r is the sign on top of the final "a".

I'll follow your Sanskrit progress with interest. I dare not touch it myself for now as it'll mess up my Bengali. I know some Devanagari from reading road signs in India, and I also have Coulson's TY Sanskrit I once bought in a sale, so I have a map to see where you are!

[Josquin]

WEDNESDAY, 6 DECEMBER 2017

Thanks for these insights into Bengali and Devanagari, peter! Devanagari still seems like a tough nut to crack, but I'll keep you posted on my progress. Regarding which, there isn't much... I almost didn't get to study at all last week.

First, I went to the doctor because of my stomach ache and she thought it might be my gall bladder, so I had to return the next day for a blood test and even go to another doctor for a sonography. Turns out my gall bladder and everything else inside my belly is fine, so it had to be the stomach who was acting up God knows why. So, my doctor gave me some drops in order to soothe my tummy and now everything's fine again. Much ado about nothing...

Also, several things in my flat need to be repaired and it seems to be nearly impossible to get a handyman to simply do it. I made an appointment with the locksmith twice and was stood up both times, because he had some emergencies to deal with. So, tomorrow I'm going to make the next appointment... Not to mention the plumber and the painter, who also need to come to my appartement for some repairs. I hate it!

Third, Christmas is approaching and I don't have a single present yet. Well, that's not entirely true. I went to Zurich for the weekend and bought several kilogrammes of Swiss chocolate, so my family will get some of it for Christmas. But, of course, that's not enough. I'll have to find some books or so to give away with the chocolate.

So, yeah, languages! As I said, I haven't got around to do much, which is also due to the fact that I started working for my part-time job again. So, I'm sorry I have no better news, but I'm still planning on going on with Dúil, Kairós, Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch, and Read and Write Hindi Script, but I just need to find some spare time in order to do so. Maybe, I'll finally have some peace and quiet on the weekend, so I hope I can get back to business then.

[Josquin]

THURSDAY, 7 DECEMBER 2017

I've finally managed to fit in some studying again, so here is my report for today.

Gaeilge

I started a new story in Dúil. It's called An Charraig Dhubh and, as far as I can tell, it's about animals living on a rock at the beach. I haven't really read much yet, so I can't really say what the plot is about. Bhuel, feicfimid!

Ἑλληνική

I moved on to lesson 12 in Kairós, which covers the a-declension. The grammar is still pretty easy, but there are already plenty of unknown words. I hate cramming vocabulary, so this is bothering me a little bit. Well, fortunately, there are relatively few words per lesson to be learnt, so it still seems manageable.

עברית

I finished lesson 30 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch. I only had to go through the reading section, which was an excerpt from the story of Joseph and his brothers. It went relatively smoothly, but I must admit I wouldn't be able to reproduce a verb paradigm for the life of me. The several conjugations for the imperfect are really confusing and I'm glad when I recognize an imperfect form at first glance.

After the I-Yod verbs, now come the III-He verbs. They don't seem to be quite as irregular, but they additionally have a short imperfect form that is used under certain circumstances. Translating Hebrew is really like a gigantic puzzle! I just fear the Lambdin textbook teaches too much grammar at once, or rather too detailed, so untangling the puzzle is getting more and more difficult.

संस्कृतम्

Talking of gigantic puzzles, I have finally started working with the Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. I finished Read and Write Hindi Script today, because I could skip a lot of information that's not relevant to me, as I'm not studying Hindi. I can't say I'm really confident reading Devanagari yet, but at least I know the single characters and diacritics and theoretically know how they work together.

I still have a hard time recognizing the more exotic conjunctions and the diacritic for /r/ always trips me up, as it is written on the far right of the syllable it precedes (!!!). So, yeah, I'm still trying to slowly decipher entire words and sentences in Devanagari, but I have the feeling it's slowly getting easier.

Other than that, I read through the chapters on the phonetics of Sanskrit and the so-called "road map to verbs", which simply introduces the usual terminology for verbal conjugation. It also gives an outline of the verbal system in Sanskrit, i.e. the categories according to which the verb is conjugated.

Finally, I learnt my first words in Sanskrit and the endings for the indicative present active, so I'm on chapter 4 now. Sanskrit really has full paradigms for singular, plural, and dual, so this will be interesting!

[Josquin]

SATURDAY, 16 DECEMBER 2017

Not much to report these days. I've mainly been busy with Ancient Greek and haven't been doing much else. I bought some books in Greek and Latin, e.g. an annotated pupils' edition of the Odyssey and a bilingual edition of Aristophanes' Birds in Greek as well as a bilingual edition of Ovid's Ars amatoria in Latin. Other than that, I'm still fighting with Hebrew verbs and Sanskrit script.

Gaeilge

No progress at all.

Ἑλληνική

I'm on lesson 14 in Kairós, which deals with adjectives and the middle voice. Still pretty easy, but okay. I guess the real fun will start later when all the different verb tenses will be introduced. Anyway, I really like Ancient Greek! It's my favourite language right now.

עברית

I can't say I have the same enthusiasm for Hebrew though. I mean it's interesting and okay, but I don't really love the language. All those different paradigms for the imperfect are pretty confusing and there are still more to come. I really think Hebrew verbs are all over the place and I can't make much sense out of them.

All those prefixes, endings, and vocalization patterns are giving me a hard time and it won't get easier when the other binyanim will be introduced. At the moment, all conjugations still belong to the Qal stem, but there are at least six more. So, Hebrew is really getting rough. Maybe, I'll repeat all the imperfect conjugations before moving on. It might be better in the long run.

I'm on lesson 31 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch now, which deals with the imperfect of III-He verbs. They're not quite as confusing as I-Nun or I-Yod verbs, but there are mixed types which show characteristics of more than one category. All those different root types are really tripping me up!

संस्कृतम्

I'm still fighting with the Devanagari script. I know most of the signs and how they work by now, but some combined characters still elude me. Also, I'm far from reading fluently. Instead, I have to read syllable by syllable. Well, it's getting better.

I haven't really made any progress in my textbook though. I haven't had the time and I really want to be able to read Devanagri confidently before moving on. So, more reading practice it is!

Latina

I have been reading the proem of Vergil's Aeneid for fun. I translated it many years ago and I can still read it quite fluently, so I might go on translating more of the first book and then move on to Ovid. I'm not fond of Latin the way I am of Greek, but I'm far more competent in the former than in the latter, so I can translate real literature.

[Josquin]

SUNDAY, 17 DECEMBER 2017

Today was a pretty good day for my language studies. I had the whole afternoon to myself, so I could fully concentrate on studying. I'm at my family's place in western Germany right now, where I'm almost always surrounded by my family, so having time to myself is rare. I'll stay here for Christmas and New Year's, so I'll have to see how much studying I'll get done.

Gaeilge

I read some more lines in An Charraig Dhubh. I've only been reading native materials in Irish for a short time now, but I can already feel an improvement in my comprehension. That's quite gratifying!

Ἑλληνική

I moved on to lesson 15 in Kairós, which deals with the present passive participle. I'm quite astonished that Kairós introduces participal constructions so early on, but fortunately I'm pretty comfortable with them. From Reading Greek, I'm only used to active and middle participles, so the passive participle is still something new for me. Its form is identical with the middle participle, but of course it's used a bit differently. Anyway, I absolutely love Ancient Greek right now!

עברית

I have finished lesson 31 in Lehrbuch Bibel-Hebräisch. I can't really say I'm comfortable with the imperfect of III-He verbs yet, but at least I'm coming to terms with I-Yod and I-Nun verbs. I did all the translation exercises and read the excerpt from the story of Joseph and his brothers. I'm only slowly improving, but I have a feeling that reading Hebrew is getting easier, despite the advanced difficulty in grammar. As I said, I think, or rather hope, I'm slowly coming to terms with Hebrew.

संस्कृतम्

I did the reading exercises in lesson 1 and 2 of The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit. Finally, Devanagari is starting to really make sense as well. I'm acquiring more and more combined letters and I can read more comfortably. I hope I'll be able to read more or less fluently quite soon.

After doing the reading exercises, I moved on to the grammar sections in lesson 3 and 4. They deal with Sanskrit verbs in general and the present tense in particular. There are several verb classes which vary in the way they derive the present stem from the so-called "root". I'll have to read more about verbal roots in Sanskrit, but I'm sure they work quite differently from roots in Hebrew. In any case, I have never encountered the expression "verbal root" in Indo-European languages, so I'm pretty curious as to how they work.

Latina

No Latin today. I rather spent my time on Greek, Hebrew, and Sanskrit instead.

[Josquin]

GRAECA NON LEGVNTVR

And we have a new name for the log! From now on, the log is called "Graeca non leguntur" instead of "Ceol agus Ól". I hope the new title will reflect my current language portfolio better.

"Graeca non leguntur" is Latin and translates to "Greek isn't read" or "You don't read Greek" and used to be a famous phrase among medieval monks. Only knowing Latin, they would skip every Greek passage in the manuscripts they were copying with the remark "Graeca non leguntur". It was only by the Arabs and the Islamic tradition that most Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle, were passed on.

The title is of course tongue-in-cheek, as my primary goal in 2018 will be learning classical languages, such as Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, and Classical Sanskrit, while at the same time keeping my Irish alive and reading literature in both Irish and Latin. In the course of the year, I might add more languages or go back to ones I already know, we'll see. My top candidate for wanderlust in 2018 will probably be Persian.

To a successful new year!

[Theodisce]

I also bought a bilingual copy of Plato's Apology of Socrates, but this will still have to wait.

I believe dialogues could be both easier and more attractive than the Apology of Socrates. Plato was the first Greek author I read in original (apart from the New Testament) and I've always found him extremely interesting and comparatively quite easy to follow.

[basica]

"Graeca non leguntur" is Latin and translates to "Greek isn't read" or "You don't read Greek" and used to be a famous phrase among medieval monks. Only knowing Latin, they would skip every Greek passage in the manuscripts they were copying with the remark "Graeca non leguntur". It was only by the Arabs and the Islamic tradition that most Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle, were passed on.

While I was aware of how the Arabs helped preserve knowledge from the Greeks, I hadn't been aware of the lack of conservation by the western world. This was definitely an interesting find

[Josquin]

I also bought a bilingual copy of Plato's Apology of Socrates, but this will still have to wait.

I believe dialogues could be both easier and more attractive than the Apology of Socrates. Plato was the first Greek author I read in original (apart from the New Testament) and I've always found him extremely interesting and comparatively quite easy to follow.

Thanks for that suggestion! I've read some dialogues by Plato in translation already, so I thought the Apology might be something new and interesting. As for easier language, I don't know. The Apology seems to be a popular choice as reading material in German grammar schools, so I thought it might be appropriate. I can't read it now anyway. I will have to finish my textbooks first.

While I was aware of how the Arabs helped preserve knowledge from the Greeks, I hadn't been aware of the lack of conservation by the western world. This was definitely an interesting find

I'm not quite sure about the Byzantine tradition, but in the west of the former Roman Empire, Greek philosophy was completely forgotten by the Middle Ages. First, because scholars didn't know any Greek any more and secondly because the Greek philosophers were regarded as heathens whose teachings had been made redundant by the evangelium. So, yes, if it hadn't been for the Arabs and Persians, a lot of ancient philosophy would be lost. I don't know about Greek literature though.