You make it sound as though Medieval Italian is radically different from Modern Italian.
Tom Send a noteboard - 26/12/2012 01:15:24 AM
There are a few minor differences, but they're the sort of things that any Italian edition would have footnoted for native readers. However, I would say that the difference between Medieval Italian and Modern Italian is a bit less than the difference between Shakespearean English and Modern English. A far greater gap exists between Medieval German or French and their modern equivalents, and even the English of Chaucer is probably farther from the modern idiom than the Italian of Dante.
And frankly, I don't understand why someone would read something like Gerusalemme Liberata or Orlando Furioso in translation if that same person plans on reading anything in Italian at all - all poetry loses an incredible amount in translation. For example, the beginning of Tasso's epic starts as follows:
Canto l'arme pietose e 'l capitano
che 'l gran Sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò co 'l senno e con la mano,
molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto;
e in van l'Inferno vi s'oppose, e in vano
s'armò d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto.
Il Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto a i santi
Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti.
So what is hard about that? I am looking at the eight lines and see almost exclusively modern Italian words. A few final vowels have dropped, as is typical in Italian poetry (popolo > popol, vano > van) and operare contracted a bit for the same reason, as did a couple of places where a full definite article would normally be found. All of those characteristics could appear in any modern Italian poetry, however.
In fact, there is only one irregularity: diè, which in Modern Italian would be diedero. This is a major contraction, but once again, it's pretty easy to determine from the context if you know your conjugations.
At the level of syntax Tasso has thrown in some Latinization, saying Sepolcro liberò di Cristo instead of Sepolcro di Cristo liberò, though that's probably to keep the rhyme scheme as much as for any other reason.
And frankly, I don't understand why someone would read something like Gerusalemme Liberata or Orlando Furioso in translation if that same person plans on reading anything in Italian at all - all poetry loses an incredible amount in translation. For example, the beginning of Tasso's epic starts as follows:
Canto l'arme pietose e 'l capitano
che 'l gran Sepolcro liberò di Cristo.
Molto egli oprò co 'l senno e con la mano,
molto soffrì nel glorioso acquisto;
e in van l'Inferno vi s'oppose, e in vano
s'armò d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto.
Il Ciel gli diè favore, e sotto a i santi
Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti.
So what is hard about that? I am looking at the eight lines and see almost exclusively modern Italian words. A few final vowels have dropped, as is typical in Italian poetry (popolo > popol, vano > van) and operare contracted a bit for the same reason, as did a couple of places where a full definite article would normally be found. All of those characteristics could appear in any modern Italian poetry, however.
In fact, there is only one irregularity: diè, which in Modern Italian would be diedero. This is a major contraction, but once again, it's pretty easy to determine from the context if you know your conjugations.
At the level of syntax Tasso has thrown in some Latinization, saying Sepolcro liberò di Cristo instead of Sepolcro di Cristo liberò, though that's probably to keep the rhyme scheme as much as for any other reason.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Trying to decide which of these is the best shared-world writer...
23/12/2012 02:23:35 AM
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I have heard of the Bertrand fella, and the Twelve Paladins but I haven't read any of his works
23/12/2012 02:58:41 AM
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I do intend to read Orlando Furioso (and Gerusalemme Liberata) at some point.
23/12/2012 08:30:03 AM
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What does Gerusalemme Liberata have to do with it?
23/12/2012 02:49:41 PM
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Never had a formal lesson in Italian
23/12/2012 05:17:48 PM
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I actually believe Italian to be the easiest Romance language
23/12/2012 07:26:43 PM
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It certainly isn't the hardest (Romanian and then French might be that)
23/12/2012 07:42:38 PM
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Romanian always seemed quite easy to me
24/12/2012 02:08:17 AM
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I think we're interpreting this a bit differently here
24/12/2012 04:15:46 AM
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So by "purity" you really mean the simplicity and limitation on vowel sounds...
26/12/2012 01:20:40 AM
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Yes, although I prefer it being in reference to a lesser range of variation in vowel sound to letter
26/12/2012 04:33:06 AM
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Eh, they're both famous Italian epics?
25/12/2012 07:06:37 PM
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You make it sound as though Medieval Italian is radically different from Modern Italian.
26/12/2012 01:15:24 AM
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From the aesthetic point of view I think that Ariosto is recognized as the best.
23/12/2012 02:54:43 PM
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I agree (all but the Bar-Sur-Aube I've read in the original language, with translations to help)
23/12/2012 05:16:04 PM
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Since it's a short book I might just buy a paperback and hope Dumbarton Oaks issues a hardcover.
23/12/2012 07:29:52 PM
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It'll be a few months at least before I tackle Mommsen in any language
23/12/2012 07:44:42 PM
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I took a chance and ordered Orlando Furioso a week ago from amazon.it
24/12/2012 02:14:02 AM
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Hopefully it'll be what you want
24/12/2012 04:19:32 AM
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Io sono trasportato di gioia
28/12/2012 12:32:21 AM
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And I just ordered their Tasso.
28/12/2012 01:09:08 AM
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Very strange indeed
28/12/2012 04:46:26 AM
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Excellent!
28/12/2012 04:45:42 AM
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The books are not as rigid as a cardboard-style hardcover, but they aren't very supple.
28/12/2012 05:36:35 AM
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I agree about the Old French and Catalan - it makes sense when you think about it.
25/12/2012 07:18:35 PM
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Having finished re-reading the Pulci, I think that one might interest you as well
25/12/2012 08:59:38 AM
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Saw the title of this and immediately thought: Tite Kubo. haha *NM*
03/01/2013 10:27:22 PM
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