Logopandecteision
Encyclopedia
Logopandecteision is a 1653 book by Sir Thomas Urquhart
, disingenuously detailing his plans for the creation of an artificial language
by that name. The book is written in several parts, most notably including a list of the language's 66 unparalleled excellences; the rest is made up of rants against his creditors, the Church of Scotland
, and others whose neglect and wrongdoings prevent him from publishing this perfected language. Where the book deals with the plan of Logopandecteision, it recalls his earlier work Eskybalauron.
Urquhart was fond of this kind of very elaborate joke, sometimes so elaborate as to be taken by his contemporaries as in earnest. In this case, it is posterity which mistakes his intention. Under the spelling Logopandekteision extracts are sometimes presented which make it appear that Urquhart seriously undertook the creation of a constructed language
.
These extracts are somewhat reminiscent of the teetering taxonomic structures of other philosophical language
s, and of the baroque grammar of later projects such as Volapük
. He promises twelve parts of speech: each declinable in eleven cases, four numbers, eleven genders (including god, goddess, man, woman, animal, etc.); and conjugable in eleven tenses, seven moods, and four voices.
So far as that his project is possible, if absurd. He goes on to make other promises not so easily fulfilled: that "here is no Language in the world, but for every word thereof, it will afford you another of the same signification, of equal syllables with it, and beginning or ending, or both, with vowels or consonants as it doth"; that "in translating verses of any vernaculary tongue
, such as Italian
, French
, Spanish
, Slavonian, Dutch
, Irish
, English
, or whatever it be, it affords you of the same signification, syllable for syllable, and in the closure of each line a rime, as in the original"; that any number, of any magnitude whatsoever, may be expressed in this language by a single word, in fact so concisely that the number of sand-grains required to fill Earth and Heaven would be expressible by two letters; and perhaps most extraordinarily, that his language will translate any idiom in any other language, without any alteration of the literal sense, but fully representing the intention.
Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais.-Life:...
, disingenuously detailing his plans for the creation of an artificial language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
by that name. The book is written in several parts, most notably including a list of the language's 66 unparalleled excellences; the rest is made up of rants against his creditors, the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
, and others whose neglect and wrongdoings prevent him from publishing this perfected language. Where the book deals with the plan of Logopandecteision, it recalls his earlier work Eskybalauron.
Urquhart was fond of this kind of very elaborate joke, sometimes so elaborate as to be taken by his contemporaries as in earnest. In this case, it is posterity which mistakes his intention. Under the spelling Logopandekteision extracts are sometimes presented which make it appear that Urquhart seriously undertook the creation of a constructed language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
.
These extracts are somewhat reminiscent of the teetering taxonomic structures of other philosophical language
Philosophical language
A philosophical language is any constructed language that is constructed from first principles, like a logical language, but may entail a strong claim of absolute perfection or transcendent or even mystical truth rather than satisfaction of pragmatic goals...
s, and of the baroque grammar of later projects such as Volapük
Volapük
Volapük is a constructed language, created in 1879–1880 by Johann Martin Schleyer, a Roman Catholic priest in Baden, Germany. Schleyer felt that God had told him in a dream to create an international language. Volapük conventions took place in 1884 , 1887 and 1889 . The first two conventions used...
. He promises twelve parts of speech: each declinable in eleven cases, four numbers, eleven genders (including god, goddess, man, woman, animal, etc.); and conjugable in eleven tenses, seven moods, and four voices.
So far as that his project is possible, if absurd. He goes on to make other promises not so easily fulfilled: that "here is no Language in the world, but for every word thereof, it will afford you another of the same signification, of equal syllables with it, and beginning or ending, or both, with vowels or consonants as it doth"; that "in translating verses of any vernaculary tongue
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
, such as Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Slavonian, Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
, Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, or whatever it be, it affords you of the same signification, syllable for syllable, and in the closure of each line a rime, as in the original"; that any number, of any magnitude whatsoever, may be expressed in this language by a single word, in fact so concisely that the number of sand-grains required to fill Earth and Heaven would be expressible by two letters; and perhaps most extraordinarily, that his language will translate any idiom in any other language, without any alteration of the literal sense, but fully representing the intention.
External links
- Logopandekteision from W. J. Clark, International Language.
- Logopandecteision etext
- Lecture on Sir Thomas Urquhart's works by Dr John B. Corbett (close transcription)