31 march 2021

John Bjarne Grover

In the article 'Anomalism in a new esthetic space', I mention also my short poem from 'Der Dornenstrauch' part 1 'Kinderhilfe' rel #111b = abs 172 - I quote from this article:

Ich sitze nieder bei einem Tische
als tragn Männer zwei Tische ein.
Ein Kerl spricht Wahnsinn im Telephon.

This corresponds to Varro's section 43 in his book vii, which goes as follows

Book vii,43: "Apud Ennium: Mensas constituit idemque ancilia [primus, Ancilia] dicta ab ambecisu, quod ea arma ab utraque parte ut Thracum incisa".

In the translation by Roland G.Kent, Loeb edition:

Book vii,43: "In Ennius this verse is found: 'Banquets ['Mensas' = 'tables'; my addition] he first did establish, and likewise the shields that are holy'. The ancilia 'shields' were named from their ambecisus 'incision on both sides' because these arms were incised at right and left like those of the Thracians".

The example of Varro serves to tell that there is an anomalistic (non-rule-governed) relation between 'ancilia' and 'ambecisus'. My poem could be seen to be about precisely something like that.

'Ancilia' = old italian shields, small, round but somewhat oval, incised on the sides like a violin. My latin dictionary tells that it had fallen down from the sky and 11 imitations had been made and are stored by the Saliers ('leapers'), a college of priests

'Ambecisus' = Zuschneiden/Bescherung round about

The idea that Bescherung is about such things finds support also in Caravaggio's 'The calling of Matthew' - here with the small round coins and small round spectacle glasses - but with a finger covering a small part of each such roundness.

Now the interesting observation is in the chinese radicals that seem to be contained in my 'Der Dornenstrauch'. This poem 111b is absolute enumeration #172 = chinese radical #172:

This is discussed in this article on radical #172 which tells that radical sign means 'short-tailed birds'. Mathews adds that the sign also is used for another sign meaning 'high and precipitous (some give it as the blowing of the wind)'. See the old versions of the sign - those to the left ('oracle bone' and 'bronze' script) looking like short-tailed birds, those to the right - if ⾫ = me sitting down by a table - like men carrying 2 tables 1/in (small seal script) as well as one with a telephone (transcribed ancient).

My 'Stillhetens åndedrag' has some strange 'Bescherungen' where the lines are cut into the text - and indeed it seemed that the birds of Szolnok sympathized particularly with some of them.

Ravel's piano concerto in G major is magnificent music in three movements which seems to be about these things - and which could be about an interpretation of my book title 'Birds to Saladin' (= TEQ books 5-8):

Movement 1 = Birds
Movement 2 = to
Movement 3 = Saladin

Is that the same Saladin as the latin Salier?

Listen to those 'high and precipitous' birds of Wang's recording.

Now the interesting theory that follows from this is that Varro's study could be about the same things as chinese radicals - via my 'Dornenstrauch'. That is something!



29 july 2021: I recalled today that russian-scholar Jostein Børtnes translated a poem by Mandelstam for the student paper 'Littviten' at the literary institute in 1982 - it was (as far as I remember) called 'Ja, gi meg mentolstift mot smerten'. I cannot find the poem anywhere but it is likely to be something like 'Da daimnje menthol...'. The name бэртнесюстейн looks in fact a little like 'Birds to Saladin' (or is it 'døpt Hessen-Kassel' = 'baptized Hessen-Kassel'?). In a lecture he had mentioned the etymology or history of the word 'symbol' in the alleged ancient practice when two people were parting they could break a ring in two and keep one half each for identity verification when meeting again. I addressed him after the lecture on the theme but he did not have the time. I had also mentioned an 'asymptotic function' in a lecture of his. Could be this (if earlier) were a background of his translation - but would it have been a problem that his name resembled 'Fjertnes feriebiskop' (by 'Wesensteen') apparently on the theme of the official father of mine whom I recall was replaced with a copy at Vikebukt ferry station in the late 1960's? For a theory of (me being) 'baptized Hessen-Kassel', I add that when I came to the 'römisches Reich' of Italy (not Germany!) in late 2018, I developed a trombosis in my left hip - making it difficult to move the left leg forwards - and was soon hospitalized for problems with digestion, blood and urine tract. On the 'verlorene Gebiete' of the 'römisches Reich': "Zugleich erhielten die Fürsten von Salzburg, Württemberg, Baden und Hessen-Kassel die Kurfürstenwürde der erloschenen linksrheinischen Kurfürstentümer Köln, Trier und Kurpfalz" (Eschenhagen 2005). (Is this 'Kurpfalz' the same as 'Kurmainz' - or is that a 'modern' trick?)



References

Johanssen, Nygaard, Schreiner (3rd rev.ed. by Henning Mørland): Latinsk Ordbok. Cappelen Oslo 1965.

Eschenhagen, W: "Reichsdeputationshauptschluss". Microsoft Encarta Enzyklopädie 2005.

Mathews, R.H.: Chinese-English Dictionary. (A Chinese-English Dictionary Compiled for the China Inland Mission by R.H.Mathews, Shanghai: China Inland Mission and Presbyterian Mission Press, 1931). Revised american edition 1943. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Varro: On the latin language, Books V-X. With an english translation by Roland G.Kent. Loeb series Vols. 333-334, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, London, England 1993.





© John Bjarne Grover
On the web 31 march 2021
Last updated 29 july 2021