Logos vs. Lexis

I’ve decided not to do what most everybody else is doing, that is, exposing and opposing error. Not because it isn’t the most important undertaking in the fight to restore Christendom, but because it is already being done more abundantly and thoroughly by folks more competent than I.

I shall dedicate the resources of this duchy, then, to helping people read important and beautiful things in Latin and Greek—especially hymns. It is what I already do for some friends who find it a very useful and enriching activity. I suppose I should also disclose why I think Catholics (of the Roman variety at any rate) should know Latin well and pray and worship in that venerable language, but it won’t be right now.

Right now I will state what my future principles of translation will be, and for that we will need to have a much abbreviated lesson in classical rhetoric.

There is a fundamental division between what and how something is said. It is very possible to read or hear a text, and understand how it was said but not what it means. For example, in the Vesperal psalm Laudate Pueri (112) you find the following phrase: “A solis ortu usque ad occasum laudabile nomen Domini” which the Douay-Rheims accurately translates as “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.” Now, it is quite possible that you have been praying this verse every Sunday for many years, and understand what all the Latin or English vocabulary and syntax mean, but not really know what the Psalmist is saying.

What we are faced with here is an example of metonymy, a figure of speech whereby one states something indirectly by naming one of its attributes instead. Taking into account the use that the Church makes of this psalm, it would not be a bad conjecture that the Psalmist means “from morning to evening” or “all the day long the name of the Lord is worthy of praise.” He means something quite different, however, as this is a common expression in the Old Testament for “from east to west” or “everywhere.” Its meaning becomes clear in this also famous example, usually understood by Catholic authors to be a prophecy of the Mass: “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1.11)

My translations will always head straight to the content, and disregard any of the rhetoric in order to make sure we really understand what the original is about. Then I will analyze the Latin closely, paying attention to how things are said. My aim is to facilitate your enjoyment and reading of these texts in their original language.

In Christo Mariaque,
Iohannes Carolus