tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post2458153178833546751..comments2024-03-07T12:57:35.296-05:00Comments on Varieties of Unreligious Experience: On Etymology, Part 2Conrad H. Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-14427506728346668352007-08-17T18:10:00.000-04:002007-08-17T18:10:00.000-04:00Sadly not. In fact I don't even have McKerrow or a...Sadly not. In fact I don't even have McKerrow or another book for the Latin abbreviations--I just know the basic ones learnt in palaeography 101 sessions. It's the same with Greek--I can recognize the -os ligature and a few others, but have no systematic knowledge.<BR/><BR/>I'm mainly familiar with McKerrow as the <EM>great</EM> editor of the works of Thomas Nashe (1904-10), still the standard after a century. (I did my MA thesis on Nashe, and benefited much from his erudition, which, from the days before Google, and even before serious library indexes, is still incredible.)Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-11500508078181703932007-08-17T17:58:00.000-04:002007-08-17T17:58:00.000-04:00My example, which has fewer contractions, tallies ...My example, which has fewer contractions, tallies with your reading of the Internet version exactly. In the 1612 Wittenberg ed. this copy is found in the middle of fol. 8(recto). I am indeed amazed this work is on the Internet!<BR/><BR/>The best list of Latin contractions I have found is in McKerrow's "Introduction to Bibliography" (O.U.P., 2nd .ed., 1928) pp. 319-24. Still it is slow going unless you read enough of this sort of thing to memorize them all. The Latin can be managed with time, but 16th-17th Greek printing with all its ligatures is still worse. Aldine Greek is not so complicated as Estienne's. I know of nothing comparable to McKerrow's list of Latin sorts for help with old Greek typography. Do you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-5030253943634667322007-08-17T16:04:00.000-04:002007-08-17T16:04:00.000-04:00(Not to mention Whiter's list of races, of course....(Not to mention Whiter's list of races, of course. Similar nonsense can be found as late as Arnold Wadler's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/One-Language-Arnold-D-Wadler/dp/1584200464" REL="nofollow"><EM>One Language</EM></A>, 1948.)Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-37806814289441526952007-08-17T15:55:00.000-04:002007-08-17T15:55:00.000-04:00If I'm reading the abbreviations aright, "inundati...If I'm reading the abbreviations aright, "inundatione[m] terraru[m] a causis naturalib[us] p[ro]cessisse / quas studiosi i[n] monumentu[m] excideru[n]t:& a divina p[ro]uide[n]tia simul ab eterno ordinata[m]:"<BR/><BR/>The passage can be found at the top of <A HREF="http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/bibliotecavirtualandalucia/catalogo_imagenes/grupo.cmd?posicion=205&path=10025&forma=&presentacion=pagina" REL="nofollow">this page</A> of the online edition of Annius. Isn't the internet amazing?<BR/><BR/>I would be interested to read Annius, but my Latin is not good enough to read through this stuff quickly, especially not in the online format with its barbarous abbreviations.<BR/><BR/>Re: racialism and linguistics, I think there was probably an unbroken continuity in the combined interest in the two; after all, the linguistic texts of the 18c. (<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monboddo" REL="nofollow">Monboddo</A>, to take a good example) are decidedly concerned with the origin of man and his races--ie. with the study of what would later be called anthropology. There was also a lot of discussion at this time of the racial differences between the Semitic and Hellenic peoples.<BR/><BR/>Max Muller came from a long tradition.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-55951011664752295352007-08-17T14:43:00.000-04:002007-08-17T14:43:00.000-04:00P.S. - the Berosus of Annius is an interesting thi...P.S. - the Berosus of Annius is an interesting thing to read, forgery or no - it seems as if his intent were to try to harmonize the Bible, Josephus and other ancient historians, and classical mythology. Among the features of the text is a table of the posterity of Noah's children, including the lines of Osiris and Priam. The commentary continues with an ethnography including the Celtiberians, Sarmates (Poles), Scythians, etc. Its similarity to the quack efforts to derive a racial anthropology from linguistics in the 19th century is surprising.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-67577017195678329612007-08-17T14:30:00.000-04:002007-08-17T14:30:00.000-04:00I knew I had a copy of Berosus somewhere, and last...I knew I had a copy of Berosus somewhere, and last night I found it - sure enough, its title reads "Berosi Sacerdotis chaldaici, Antiquitatum libri quinque, cum commentariis Joannis Annij Viterbensis facræ Theologiæ professoris... M.DC.XII. Wittenergæ, Typis Martini Henckelij Sumptibus Samuelis Seelfischij."<BR/><BR/>The writing down of antediluvian knowledge is mentioned, just as in the genuine Berosus, and not on pillars but on a "monument." In his commentary Annius credits this to Enoch, who had foreseen the Flood from astronomical observations. Cf. Dr. Anderson's Constitutions, ed. of 1738, where he writes: "Some call them Seth's Pillars, but the old Masons always call'd then Enoch's Pillars, and firmly believ'd this Tradition." It seems quite reasonable that both Borrichius and Anderson were taken in by Annius's Berosus, but that still doesn't explain the ancient charges, the earliest of which antedate Annius.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-72857204436986643742007-08-16T11:31:00.000-04:002007-08-16T11:31:00.000-04:00"si Beroso Anniano credimus"I think this is the cr..."si Beroso Anniano credimus"<BR/><BR/>I think this is the crux: see <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annius_of_Viterbo#Detection_of_his_forgeries" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>I like 'Peter the Eater'; I've never heard Comestor translated like that!<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I defer to you on Freemasonry, as I know nothing about it. Have you seen the London lodge? A marvelous building, and marvelously preserved.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-9365046177597962052007-08-16T00:15:00.000-04:002007-08-16T00:15:00.000-04:00I have not looked in Berosus, knowing of this only...I have not looked in Berosus, knowing of this only through Borrichius, middle of p. 22: "Sed qvid inscriptum Sethianis Columnis? scientia rerum cœlestium, si audimus Josephum; prognosticon interitus mundi prioris, si Beroso Anniano credimus; curiosarum rerum noticia, & maleficæ qvoque Magorum artes, si fidimus Sereno apud Cassianum; septem artes liberales in VII. æneis & VII. lateritiis espressæ columnis, si Petro Comestor in histor. Eccles. Gen. cap. XXXVII. debemus assensum." No citation to Berosus by book and chapter is given by Borrichius. Perhaps he had in mind the passage you quote. <BR/><BR/>The story of the two sets of pillars, seven of brass and seven of brick, which Borrichius attributes to Peter the Eater, Knoop and Jones ascribe to Zoroaster in "The Genesis of Freemasonry." In any event, the combination of the antedilvuan pillars with their post-diluvian discovery by Hermes is not found in Josephus, but is a common feature of many old Masonic charges. <BR/><BR/>The survival of the philosophia perennis from its loss of 'mainstream' intellectual respectability by the end of the seventeenth century, through the eighteenth century, until it reappeared in the nineteenth, bereft of Hermes and adorned in his place with Hindu concepts (including sexual magic loosely derived from tantric practices) and motifs (including the swastika!), seems to me to be deeply connected with fringe freemasonry and odd religious sects like the Swedenborgians. An interesting character in this connection is Gen. Charles Rainsford (1728-1809), whose extensive collection of alchemical and occult MSS is preserved at Alnwick Castle, perhaps not coincidentally the location for "Hogwarts" in the movie "Harry Potter and the Philosophers' Stone."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-76386144491656879502007-08-15T19:48:00.000-04:002007-08-15T19:48:00.000-04:00I can't find any mention of the pillars in Berossu...I can't find any mention of the pillars in <A HREF="http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/af/index.htm" REL="nofollow">Berossus</A>: the closest is 'He therefore enjoined him to write a history of the beginning, procedure, and conclusion of all things; and to bury it in the city of the Sun at Sippara.' Furthermore if it were in Berossus one would expect to see a reference to B in Josephus on the subject, as Josephus cites and quotes the Babylonian several times on other subjects.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-16841846360361157882007-08-15T19:12:00.000-04:002007-08-15T19:12:00.000-04:00Borrichius cites Berosus the Chaldean (c. 330-250 ...Borrichius cites Berosus the Chaldean (c. 330-250 BC) as one source for the antediluvian pillars. This antedates Josephus, whom he also mentions. The immediate source of the story as recounted in the Cooke MS was probably Higden's "Polychronicon" (14th. c), but my impression is that the introduction into the bouillabaisse of Hermes Trismegistus as their rediscoverer and interpreter was a peculiarity of the ancient Masonic charges. It is possible that Borrichius may have had correspondence with Ashmole or Sir Robert Moray, who may have felt that enough of the masonic legend was in what we would now call "the open literature" that they would not be violating any of their obligations to discuss these matters with him. <BR/><BR/>I have not read it, but an article about how the story of the Flood-surviving pillars was "coopted for occultist ends in various ways" might be W.J. Williams's "The Antediluvian Pillars in Prose and Verse," Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, vol. 51, pp. 100-125.<BR/><BR/>I should call Newton an alchemical follower of Hermes. His alchemical researches are described by B.J.T. Dobbs in her "Hunting of the Green Lion" and there is much additional material on Newton in Lawrence Principe's biography of Boyle, "The Aspiring Adept," which corrects some of Dobbs's mistakes as to Newton's sources. Boyle, Newton, and Locke were particularly fascinated by the phenomenon of "incalescent mercury," a specially prepared amalgam of mercury with antimony and a small amount of copper. This material amalgamated with gold yielding perceptible evolution of heat. Exothermic alloying reactions are rare and still not well understood. The incalescence of quicksilver with gold is probably the only one that takes place at or near room temperature. Boyle and Newton were not the last people to be surprised and confused by incalescence, thinking the transmutation of metals to be closely involved with it. Recent claims of "cold fusion" are probably based in a very similar heating reaction between hydrogen and palladium. <BR/><BR/>Whatever "professional scholar" means, I'm sure I'm not one - I certainly don't make my living at such work! I am fortunate to have a surplus income sufficient to buy old books, and have retained enough Latin to read them, though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-80618186256186778962007-08-15T18:48:00.000-04:002007-08-15T18:48:00.000-04:00Incidentally, 'its alchemical followers' is a bit ...Incidentally, 'its alchemical followers' is a bit misleading, because Hermes was accepted by figures like Newton and Cudworth (who found Casaubon's reasoning to be flawed) before 1700. It is telling that Sterne could make humour out of Walter Shandy (almost) naming his son after Trismegistus.<BR/><BR/>Plainly people will always find crazy things to believe, and occultism found a powerful resurgence in 19c. France with Levi and Fabre d'Olivet (whom I'll discuss in the final part). Even Joseph Kroll (1914) tries to argue that Hermetism predates Christ--where there's a will there's a way.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-40282696839148004602007-08-15T18:30:00.000-04:002007-08-15T18:30:00.000-04:00I'm sure this is the first time anyone has ever me...I'm sure this is the first time anyone has ever mentioned either Burrow or Borrichius in a blog comment, so congratulations. And you're not even a professional scholar, are you? I'm impressed, and heartened.<BR/><BR/>"If parallels between Sanskrit and European tongues had been noted as early as the sixteenth century, the discovery failed to capture the scholarly imagination until much later."<BR/><BR/>Yes, but one has to ask <EM>why</EM>--the conditions have to be right for a paradigm shift, and George Metcalf and others have discussed Kuhn's theory in relation to this very issue in Dell Hymes, ed. <EM>Studies in the History of Linguistics: Traditions and Paradigms</EM>.<BR/><BR/>The Flood-surviving pillars are from Josephus; it would be interesting to read a history of how this story was coopted for occultist ends in various ways.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, occultism and etymology come together in my forthcoming third post on the subject.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-202806055161980012007-08-15T17:48:00.000-04:002007-08-15T17:48:00.000-04:00I was of opinion that the substitution of Hinduism...I was of opinion that the substitution of Hinduism for Hermetism as prisca theologia had its genesis in the work of Reuben Burrow, one of the contributors to Jones's "Asiatick Researches." <BR/><BR/>If parallels between Sanskrit and European tongues had been noted as early as the sixteenth century, the discovery failed to capture the scholarly imagination until much later. It seems rather comparable to the discoveries of North America by various Norse and Scots explorers, which had nothing like the effect of Columbus's discovery of it in 1492. <BR/><BR/>Of course Casaubon's dating of the Hermetica was vigorously contested. Amongst the most fervent defenders of Hermes were the chymists. Olaus Borrichius, in his "De ortu et progressu chemiæ" (1668) not only asserts the Hermetic legend but conflates it with the biblical account of Tubalcain (Gen. v:22) -<BR/><BR/>"Chemiæ incunabula in anitqvissima prospiciunt tempora. Natam ante diluviam ex Tubalcaini [qvi aliis Nationibus Vulcanus est] historia sagaciores colligunt, eo inducti, quòd ferri, ærisqve metalla, illa Tubalcaini Magisteria inveniri, fingi, formariqve; nequeant, ni ratio priùs congnoscatur, minerarum naturas investigandi, coqvendi, purgandi, segregandi,; qvæ universa reperire non nisi Divini ingenii est, repreta autem proseqvi, fabri cujusvis proletarii..."<BR/><BR/>The Borrichius narrative goes on to state that the secrets of chemistry discovered by Tubalcain were eventually written down on pillars that survived the Flood and were discovered afterward by Hermes. It is curious how similar this account is to many of the ancient Masonic Charges, e.g., the Cooke MS. of c. 1450 or Sloane MS No. 3848, dated 1646, made by Edward Sankey, the son of Richard Sankey - a member of the lodge in which Elias Ashmole was made a mason at Warrington in Lancashire in 1646.<BR/><BR/>The chymists had, at least, cause to doubt Casaubon's dating of the Hermetica in the case of their favored texts, which were not part of the "philosophical" Corpus as translated by Ficino and expounded by occultists of the stripe of Giordano Bruno. There is no known Greek version of the Tabula smaragdina, the principal "Hermetic" text of alchemy. Thus the matter was unsettled for a long time. Much of Borrichius's book is devoted to his controversies on these points with Conringius, a critic of the Hermetica. Joseph Needham argues that it was originally Chinese. <BR/><BR/>In any event, Hermetism's survival of Casaubon's dating probably owes largely to its alchemical followers, who were not affected by it. Hermetism passes out of the philosophical "mainstream" into the occult underground at about the same time that chrysopoetic chymistry did - c. 1700. One vehicle for the survival of these beliefs through the eighteenth century was Freemasonry. The mention of Hermes in the ancient charges is a passing one, but the Hermetic theme is much amplified in the 'hautes grades' of the misnamed Scottish Rite, which is actually French in origin. An especial example is the 28º, Knight of the Sun. <BR/><BR/>The philosophia perennis resurfaces in the nineteenth century, sometimes divorced from Hermetism (as in the case of Blavatsky) and sometimes not (as in the case of Gen. Albert Pike, C.S.A., 33º, a late partisan of Hermetism and also a student of Sanskrit).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-69504000268932806912007-08-15T16:03:00.000-04:002007-08-15T16:03:00.000-04:00Thanks for the comment, but this is not quite true...Thanks for the comment, but this is not quite true. Firstly, the kinship between Sanskrit and European tongues had been identified as far back as the 16th century. Secondly, although Isaac Casaubon proved the spuriety of the Hermetic texts, this hardly stopped interest in the texts, as D. P. Walker's <EM>The Ancient Theology</EM> demonstrates. Even Christopher Hill could find plenty of evidence for implicit and explicit Hermetism in radical English thought of the mid-century. It was Leibniz (c. 1700) who popularised Agostino Steuco's (1540) term 'philosophia perennis', and Thomas Taylor, who translated most of Plato and his followers into English for the first time in the 18c., was a fully paid-up believer in this stuff.<BR/><BR/>The obsessional interest in India had to wait until the 19c., long after both the discovery of Sanskrit's connection to Greek and Latin, and the disproof of the Hermetic texts. The famous quote is William Jones in 1786, which was more interesting for its expression of Empire than for its linguistic novelty--and it seems pretty obvious that the Indianism (accompanied by an interest in Buddhism, which transmitted itself through Schopenhauer to Nietzsche) had to wait until the serious imperial expansion of the 19c.Conrad H. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01916542057749474124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20433842.post-11818572043068430292007-08-15T12:23:00.000-04:002007-08-15T12:23:00.000-04:00Worth noting as related to the issue of etymology-...Worth noting as related to the issue of etymology-crankdom is the development that took place in occultism following the discovery, in the late 18th century, of the kinship between Sanskrit and European tongues which came to be identified as "Indo-Aryan." <BR/><BR/>The old philosophia perennis of Ficino, Pico, Bruno, and many others, which ascribed great antiquity and importance to the Corpus Hermeticum, was largely discredited outside occult circles by the mid-seventeenth century, when the Hermetica were dated by textual analysis, not as the ancient texts they were previously thought to be, but as no older than the time of Christ. Suddenly the notion of Hermes as priscus theologus was exploded.<BR/><BR/>The discovery of Sanskrit and the genuinely ancient Hindu scriptures afforded a substitute prisca theologia and all sorts of occultists and quacks embraced eveything Indian, the most obvious examples being Mme Blavatsky and René Guénon. Nietzsche's Zarathustra is, in a different way, another product of the same enthusiasm (I use the word in its 18th century sense), and of course Nietzsche was a philologist. <BR/><BR/>Simultaneously the etymological connections between ancient Indian and European tongues were used as the basis of theories about the movements of peoples from Asia into Europe, giving rise to a school of racial anthropology that had significant influence on twentieth-century events. Little more need be observed than that the inescapable aroma that hangs around the word "Aryan" is its product.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com