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Introduction

J. N. Adams, Michael Lapidge, and Tobias Reinhardt

in Aspects of the Language of Latin Prose

‘Language’ is given a comprehensive sense in this book. Many of the chapters are not ‘linguistic’ in any formal sense, but are about the skill (or otherwise) of writers in expressing themselves. They ... More

‘Language’ is given a comprehensive sense in this book. Many of the chapters are not ‘linguistic’ in any formal sense, but are about the skill (or otherwise) of writers in expressing themselves. They are thus about style, the study of which can be seen as a branch of literary criticism. There are various objections that can be made to the notion (implicit in Bernhard’s statement) that the inclusion of ‘poeticisms’ in prose was an imperial development and represented a debasement of the literary language. The diversity of extant prose is a major theme of this book. Examples of early long sentences are also presented. Bad writing may show up clearly in a translation. This writing may be determined in a non-literary text written by someone who had not had a literary education and might not even have been a native speaker of Latin. Archaism emerges as a generic label rather than a unified category. The chapter then discusses the translation from Greek. Aspects of high-style Latin prose, namely neologism, archaism, Greek loanword, and poeticism, are described.Less

Verbal Imperialism: “Germany, Awaken! …”

Karl Kraus

in The Third Walpurgis Night: The Complete Text

This chapter recognises that, in the journalism and rhetoric of the new creed, there has not been a single German verbal expression that has not belied its purported content. Among the many ... More

This chapter recognises that, in the journalism and rhetoric of the new creed, there has not been a single German verbal expression that has not belied its purported content. Among the many neologisms inspired by the upheaval, this is already indicated by “Nazi,” the concept on which a revelation of the World Spirit is supposedly based, together with other phrases that could never have been conceived or formulated before the onset of the new order. What is exceptional, however, is the ability to continue in this creative spirit with true-to-type neologisms that adapt language to the needs of the regime's profound duplicity and accentuate its sanctimonious bent, the tendency to draw a veil over ignominious actions. Virtually every communiqué adds further examples of violence disguised as the norm, as when forcible entry into someone's home is described as “rehabilitation.” Or when failure is presented as imminent success and someone stretches the facts by reporting that a rival militia has been “deconstructed.”Less

Introduction

Thomas Dixon

in The Invention of Altruism: Making Moral Meanings in Victorian Britain

Prior to 1852, nobody used the word ‘altruism’ to refer to moral sentiments, actions, or ideologies. In that year the philosopher and critic G. H. Lewes approvingly introduced the term to a British ... More

Prior to 1852, nobody used the word ‘altruism’ to refer to moral sentiments, actions, or ideologies. In that year the philosopher and critic G. H. Lewes approvingly introduced the term to a British readership in an article in the Westminster Review about the latest work by the atheistic French thinker who was credited with its coining—Auguste Comte. The creation and acceptance of this new word made it possible to experience oneself and the world in new ways, to communicate new ethical concepts, and to create new moral and religious identities. This book explains how and why the language of altruism was imported, adopted, resisted, and finally accepted between its first introduction as a strange and unwelcome neologism and its successful naturalization as a ‘traditional term’ in ethical discourse around the turn of the twentieth century.Less

Word Formation, Borrowing and their Interaction

Pius Ten Hacken and Renáta Panocová

in The Interaction of Borrowing and Word Formation

Word formation and borrowing can both be used to create neologisms. Their interaction is a topic that has not been widely discussed, because they have generally been assigned to different domains of ... More

Word formation and borrowing can both be used to create neologisms. Their interaction is a topic that has not been widely discussed, because they have generally been assigned to different domains of linguistics. The study of word formation is usually considered part of the domain of morphology, whereas the study of borrowing has been undertaken partly in lexicography and etymology, partly in sociolinguistics and language policy. Word formation and borrowing are both responses to naming needs. As such they can be in competition. The competition is quite unequal, however, because the two processes operate very differently. Whereas a borrowing is based on an individual expression (typically a word) from another language, word formation is based on the application of rules to existing lexical material. When we consider the origin of a particular word, it is not always straightforward to determine whether the word is the result of borrowing or word formation. In some cases, the two processes may in fact both be involved and the relative contribution of each may vary among speakers.Less

Latinisms in Spanish 1

Steven N. Dworkin

in A History of the Spanish Lexicon: A Linguistic Perspective

This chapter examines the introduction and incorporation of Latinisms in Spanish that resulted from contact between Spanish and Classical Latin. This contact occurred predominantly at the level of ... More

This chapter examines the introduction and incorporation of Latinisms in Spanish that resulted from contact between Spanish and Classical Latin. This contact occurred predominantly at the level of the written language. The borrowing of a lexical item from Classical Latin is a deliberate purposeful act on the part of an individual writer. Often the Latinism ousted a signifier for the given concept already present in the lexicon. The selection of the Latinate variant in such cases may form part of the process of the standardization of written Spanish in the late medieval and early modern periods. Latinisms played an important role in greatly increasing the number of adjectival neologisms in Spanish, many of which are first documented in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Latinisms had an effect on the phonotactic structures of Spanish and led to an increase of its repertory of derivational suffixes.Less

Confidence Games: Dissimulation at Court

Jon R. Snyder

in Dissimulation and the Culture of Secrecy in Early Modern Europe

In the development of the discourse on dissimulation within the genre of writing about courtiers and court society is seen the most successful elite institution during the early modern period. The ... More

In the development of the discourse on dissimulation within the genre of writing about courtiers and court society is seen the most successful elite institution during the early modern period. The ways in which dissimulation was represented acted as a constituent part of the courtier's art. The chapter discusses how during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the context of court society did not show a great difference in sprezzatura. Meanwhile, the appearance of neologism sprezzatura in the text of Il Libro del Cortegiano indicated the key moment of conceptual tension in Castiglione's treatment of the ideal conduct of the early modern courtier. This led to Castiglione's innovative use of the category of dissimulation in order to define the perfect courtier's code of conduct that represented the attempt to discover a new form of social distinction.Less

Vocabulary and discourse features

Sandra Clarke and Andrew Erskine

in Newfoundland and Labrador English

Despite some lexical similarities with the neighbouring Maritime Provinces of Canada, Newfoundland English has a sufficiently distinctive lexicon to have merited its own dictionary. Chapter 4 ... More

Despite some lexical similarities with the neighbouring Maritime Provinces of Canada, Newfoundland English has a sufficiently distinctive lexicon to have merited its own dictionary. Chapter 4 documents and illustrates the main sources of this distinctiveness. These include retention of lexical items that represent archaisms elsewhere; preservation of much West Country English regional vocabulary; lexical borrowing from Irish Gaelic; and borrowing (of place names in particular) from French, as well as from the province’s aboriginal languages (Mi’kmaq, Innu-aimun, Inuktitut). The chapter also discusses neologisms and lexical loss, as well as regional variation. In addition, it outlines the chief processes underlying semantic change in Newfoundland English, much of which involves maritime-related vocabulary. Discourse features covered include terms of address and discourse particles.Less

Derrida's Destinerrance

J. Hillis Miller

in For Derrida

This chapter analyzes destinerrance, a concept, or better, motif, or better still, spatiotemporal figure, that connects intimately with the other salient spatiotemporal ... More

This chapter analyzes destinerrance, a concept, or better, motif, or better still, spatiotemporal figure, that connects intimately with the other salient spatiotemporal figures in Derrida's work. Destinerrance is spatiotemporal because, like many of Derrida's key terms, it is a spatial figure for time. It names a fatal possibility of erring, by not reaching a predefined temporal goal, in terms of wandering away from a predefined spatial goal. The word or the notion of destinerrance appears in a large number of Derrida's works, early and late, and appears in the contexts of quite different topics.Less

Comics, Radio, and the Return to SF

Jad Smith

in Alfred Bester

During the 1940s, Bester scripted comics, radio mysteries, and teleplays, and developed a fast-paced, highly visual style that, along with an emphasis on psychological depth and language play, would ... More

During the 1940s, Bester scripted comics, radio mysteries, and teleplays, and developed a fast-paced, highly visual style that, along with an emphasis on psychological depth and language play, would later define his approach to SF. He also adopted writing practices (such as allowing ideas to gestate and recombine over time in a “gimmick” book) that fueled his explosive return to SF at the end of the decade. This chapter examines Bester’s growth into a seasoned writer and the circumstances of his return to SF. Particular attention is given to his parting of ways with John W. Campbell, to his budding relationship with Fantasy and Science Fiction editors Tony Boucher and J. Francis McComas, and to the stories “Oddy and Id” and “Of Time and Third Avenue.”Less

Hart Crane’s Wrapture

Erica McAlpine

in The Poet's Mistake

This chapter reads Hart Crane's extreme license with words against stricter conceptions of error. For instance, in the second section of his poem “Voyages,” he describes the sea as “Laughing the ... More

This chapter reads Hart Crane's extreme license with words against stricter conceptions of error. For instance, in the second section of his poem “Voyages,” he describes the sea as “Laughing the wrapt inflections of our love”—his odd spelling of “wrapt” here conjuring the sense of both “wrapped” and “rapt” simultaneously, giving “inflections” an appealing physicality. Reading mistake along these lines is particularly Cranian: his letters make it clear that language's ability to elide, change, and intimate (rather than simply mean) excites and propels him into writing poetry. Accordingly, Crane's admirers tend to focus their praise on the very moments of inexplicability that his critics find most inhospitable. By placing “wrapt” and other neologisms in the context of this long-standing debate about Crane's work, the chapter suggests the benefit of reading his creativity as a form of mistake rather than the other way around.Less

Christian Knowledge

in Science and Salvation: Evangelical Popular Science Publishing in Victorian Britain

Knowledge was a topic of much debate in the 1840s, particularly in the sciences. Claims to expertise were grounded in claims about knowledge, and although the gentlemen of science who ran the British ... More

Knowledge was a topic of much debate in the 1840s, particularly in the sciences. Claims to expertise were grounded in claims about knowledge, and although the gentlemen of science who ran the British Association for the Advancement of Science liked to think that they had the right to decide such matters, their claims were still contested by some writers of popular science, as well as by biblical literalists. The British Association created the concept of a unified field of knowledge called “science,” even if William Whewell's neologism for its practitioners (“scientists”) was slow to catch on, but the association also carved up that field into sections. Issues about what counted as knowledge and how it should be classified also had practical consequences for the editors and publishers who wished to present knowledge to the masses.Less

Attempts at Linguistic Colonization and the Struggle to Preserve Spanish: Anglicized Words and Expressions and Their Tropes

Marial Iglesias Utset

in A Cultural History of Cuba during the U.S. Occupation, 1898–1902

This chapter describes how the notions of modernization filtering into Cuba from the United States carried with them a small universe of neologisms, whose function was both practical and symbolic: ... More

This chapter describes how the notions of modernization filtering into Cuba from the United States carried with them a small universe of neologisms, whose function was both practical and symbolic: they gave names to experiences for which the old lexicon of colonial Cuba seemed to lack words. Overnight, in urban areas, barberias became “barber shops,” bodegas turned into “groceries,” and many merchants put up notices announcing, “English Spoken Here.” The use of words and phrases in English began to extend beyond middle- or upper-class circles. In this respect, baseball jargon functioned as a precursor. As the year 1898 got underway, even a devoted partisan of independence such as Maximo Gomez became interested in learning English.Less

Maggie O’Sullivan:: ‘Declensions of the non’

David Kennedy and Christine Kennedy

in Women's Experimental Poetry in Britain 1970-2010: Body, Time and Locale

This chapter examines the experimental poetry of Maggie O’Sullivan, including From the Handbook of That & Furriery (1986), States of Emergency (1987), and In the House of the Shaman (1993). It ... More

This chapter examines the experimental poetry of Maggie O’Sullivan, including From the Handbook of That & Furriery (1986), States of Emergency (1987), and In the House of the Shaman (1993). It suggests that O’Sullivan’s work typically does not address gender (as it is usually understood in cultural and literary criticism) and challenges readers with its reconception of poetry as a textual body. It also considers absence/presence or deconstruction/incarnation as an identifiable dynamic in O’Sullivan’s poetry and explores how O’Sullivan locates her work in a relation between the non and the multi. Finally, it discusses O’Sullivan’s use of neologisms, contractions, or parts of words as a means of resisting ‘a restrictive culture where the dominance of notions of poetry are centred around the referential’.Less

Allah’s Chinese Name

James D. Frankel

in Rectifying God's Name: Liu Zhi's Confucian Translation of Monotheism and Islamic Law

This chapter deals with the single greatest challenge facing Liu Zhi and his fellow Han Kitāb scholars: the translation of Islam's uncompromising monotheism into Chinese. Likely wishing to avoid ... More

This chapter deals with the single greatest challenge facing Liu Zhi and his fellow Han Kitāb scholars: the translation of Islam's uncompromising monotheism into Chinese. Likely wishing to avoid attaching any possible negative or misleading implication to the sacred name of God, Liu Zhi did not resort to transliteration of the Arabic Allāh. Neither did he attempt to find a matching concept for Allah in the classical Chinese canon, for example, one of the ancient Chinese designations for divinity, such as Shangdi, tian (“Heaven”), or the more generic shen (“god”). Instead of his usual techniques, as a matter of fact, he opted to use newly coined Chinese terms for the most central concept of the Islamic faith, and in the process, whether consciously or unconsciously, he retraced the steps of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writers in Chinese before him.Less

Conclusion

James D. Frankel

in Rectifying God's Name: Liu Zhi's Confucian Translation of Monotheism and Islamic Law

This concluding chapter traces the origin of the theological terminology and sophisticated metaphysical arguments discussed in Chapter 5, including the neologisms coined by Liu Zhi and his colleagues ... More

This concluding chapter traces the origin of the theological terminology and sophisticated metaphysical arguments discussed in Chapter 5, including the neologisms coined by Liu Zhi and his colleagues to name Allah in Chinese. It shows that one of the difficulties experienced by Chinese Muslim scholars is to simultaneously maintain fidelity to their Islamic faith while avoiding Confucian charges of heterodoxy. The chapter emphasizes how the Han Kitāb scholars, and Liu Zhi in particular, were influenced by the literature of earlier apologetic translators of Abrahamic monotheism in China and how they retraced some of their steps while avoiding some of their more obvious missteps, all in the context of the ongoing, syncretic dialectic of Chinese civilization.Less