Monday, October 15, 2012

Hamlet Sans

I heard something on the radio, not quite sure what it was, but it made me want to make this.

It is the famous "To be, or not to be" soliloquy from Shakespeare's Hamlet, but with a bit of change.

I have deleted all verbs and adjectives. Also, starting with the first line, I deleted every third line (so the 1st, 4th, 7th, etc.)

I think it's interesting how, although we may not even have ever heard the whole soliloquy, we can insert the correct verb.

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Whether nobler in the mind
The slings and arrows of fortune
And by them--
No more--and by a sleep
That flesh is heir to. A consummation
Devoutly--

For in that sleep of death what dreams may
When off this coil,
That calamity of so life.

For who the whips and scorns of time,
The pangs of love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
When he himself might his quietus
With a bodkin?

Who fardels,
But that the dread of something after death,
The country, from whose bourn
And rather those ills
Than to others that not of?

And thus the hue of resolution
Sicklied o'er with the cast of thought,
With this regard their currents awry
And the name of action. -- You now,
All my sins.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Multilingual Abstract Noun and Suffixes

Most people learned what the definition of a noun is when they were very young: any person, place, or thing. There are also proper nouns which always receive a capitalized first letter. Additionally, there are abstract nouns. The capitalization of these nouns is debatable, but I prefer to do so.

The Fruitages of the Holy Spirit found in the Bible at Galatians 5:22, 23  are a superb example of the abstract noun. Instead of just a thing, it is a thing that intangible, or non-physical. The following is a list of the Fruitages in English, Spanish, Danish, and Czech.

Love Amor Kærlighed Laska
Joy Gozo Glæd Radost
Peace Paz Fred Pokoj
Faith Fe Tro Víra
Goodness Bondad Godhed Dobrota
Kindness Benignidad Venlighed Laskavost
Mildness Apacibilidad Mildhed Mírnost
Long-Suffering Gran Paciencia Langmodihed Trpělivost
Self-Control Autodominio Selvbekerkelse Sebeovládání

As you can see it is not in order found in the passage, but organized according to syllables and suffixes in English. The first four have one syllable and no suffix; the middle three are two syllables and have the same suffix: "-ness;" the last two have varying syllables but are both hyphenated.

I find it very interesting how the Spanish translation follows this same pattern almost exactly. The first four have no suffix; the middle three have the same suffix: "-dad;" and the last two have varying syllables. This is surely evidence of the Gothic influence of both Spanish and French (viz. Middle French and Middle English).

Looking at Danish, the previous pattern is broken, but a new one emerges. Five out of the nine abstract nouns end in "-hed." If rearranged to this new pattern the list goes as follows:

Tro Faith
Kærlighed Love
Godhed Gooness
Venlighed Kindness
Mildhed Mildness
Langmodihed Long-Suffering
Glæd Joy
Fred Peace
Selvbekerkelse Self-Control

Three out of four of the qualities in English that end in "-ness" end in "-hed" in Danish. Wouldn't it be weird if, instead of saying 'Goodness' we said 'Goodhood;' or instead of 'Love' we said 'Lovinghood.'

Finally, looking at Czech, there is also a pattern different from English:

Radost Joy
Laskavost Kindness
Mírnost Mildness
Trpělivost Long-Suffering
Laska Love
Víra Faith
Dobrota Goodness
Sebeovládání Self-Control
Pokoj Peace

The first four end in "-ost;" the next four end in a feminine vowel sound; the last one ends in a masculine vowel sound. This is indicative of how far back the languages split. While Modern English was directly influenced by Danish and is in the same generational displacement  from Latin as is Spanish. Although Czech is  related to English, the most recent common ancestor is only the Indo-European language. That means that Czech is about as related to English as is Hindi.

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