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Lewis and language

The man. The myth.

Lewis and language

Postby mgton » April 17th, 2007, 2:50 am

As I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, Lewis knew Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. If that's true, I officially hate him. :snooty: j/k

Was he well versed in all of them? IOW, was he a fluent speaker in all of these languages, or was he only able to translate some of them? I'm guessing that he really loved Latin since he was so into Medieval literature? Did he ever say which language he enjoyed the most?
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Postby Sven » April 17th, 2007, 11:18 am

Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
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Re: Lewis and language

Postby Esther » April 17th, 2007, 3:55 pm

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Postby Karen » April 17th, 2007, 5:03 pm

Not to mention that any bright English boy of Lewis' generation would have been taught Latin and Greek in school from an early age. Those were the days....
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Postby Guest » April 17th, 2007, 8:21 pm

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Postby Sven » April 17th, 2007, 9:06 pm

Add Icelandic/Old Norse to the list. He and Tolkien were members of the reading group named the Koalbitar, reading the eddas and sagas in that language.

You can get a collection of Lewis' letters in Latin, aptly titled The Latin Letters of C. S. Lewis. They were between him and, at first, Don Giovanni Calabria, then later Don Luigi Pedrollo. Father Calabria initiated the correspondence to ask some questions about The Screwtape Letters and, not knowing any English, wrote in Latin.
Rat! he found breath to whisper, shaking. Are you afraid?
Afraid? murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love.
Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet -- and yet -- O, Mole, I am afraid!
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship.
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Postby A#minor » April 17th, 2007, 9:45 pm

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Postby Stanley Anderson » April 17th, 2007, 10:05 pm

I suppose he was pretty well versed in Old Solar, ya think?

Since he misspelled Numenor in That Hideous Strength, his Elvish probably needed some practice (he was probably better speaking it than writing it -- and of course he was known to be a poor speller in his earlier years, so that could explain it)

--Stanley
…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
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Postby nomad » April 17th, 2007, 10:48 pm

This is really amazing. Most scholars these days will know one language if they study a non-Anglophone area of the world, but even then may not have a full grasp of it. And two or three languages would put you in a very small club.
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"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
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Postby mgton » April 18th, 2007, 12:23 am

I didn't know about The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis; that will give me some Lewis material that I can read while learning Latin. :dance: The thing that I really admire is that he could read the great epic poets in the original language: Homer, Virgil, Dante, and of course Milton. And when Christianity came calling and he wanted to really inspect the New Testament, he read it in Greek.

I can't imagine having all those language floating around in my head. It goes without saying that Tolkien is just as impressive when it comes to language. These were not ordinary fellas.
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Postby Karen » April 18th, 2007, 1:21 am

I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library. -- Jorge Luis Borges
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Postby nomad » April 18th, 2007, 4:46 am

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"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best -- " and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.
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Postby mgton » April 18th, 2007, 11:33 am

The reason why I was wondering if Lewis could speak all of these languages is because in Sayer's biography I remember him mentioning that Lewis spoke the languages with his regular accent, which Sayer found kind of funny. He also mentioned that Lewis didn't appreciate his own talent for languages. Anyway, I didn't think it was safe to assume that Lewis was a fluent speaker from such a seemingly offhanded comment by Sayer, so I thought I'd see if anyone knew what was up.

I just thought of another language—well, it's sort of another language: Middle English. I don't know anything about Chaucer or Middle English, but from the perspective of someone who has merely a surface understanding of Middle English, it seems almost like another language. We need to keep a tally on the number of languages old Lewis knew. :smile:
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Postby Guest » April 18th, 2007, 12:44 pm

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Postby Leslie » April 18th, 2007, 2:01 pm

"What are you laughing at?"
"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
--Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede
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