Plurilingualism in traditional Eurasian scholarship : thinking in many tongues / edited by Glenn W. Most, Dagmar Schäfer, Mårten Söderblom Saarela.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

List of Illustrations xi

Notes on Contributors xiii

Introduction 1

Glenn W. Most, Dagmar Schäfer, and Michele Loporcaro

Part 1 Language Diversity

1.1 Introduction 19

Glenn W. Most

1.2 The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) 26

Joel S. Baden

1.3 A 5th-Century bce Greek Historian Discusses the Pelasgians and the

Origins of the Greek Language

Herodotus, Histories 33

Filippomaria Pontani

1.4 Language Arose from Spontaneous Feelings and Reactions to Nature

The Doctrine of Epicurus (4th Century bce) and Lucretius (1st Century

bce) 41

Filippomaria Pontani

1.5 Language Diversity as a Result of Social Interaction

Xunzi’s View on Plurilingualism in 3rd-Century bce China 52

Dagmar Schäfer

1.6 Language Is a Collective Product of Mankind

Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History (1st Century bce) 67

Filippomaria Pontani

vi contents

1.7 A 1st-Century bce/ce Greek Geographer Discusses What a “Barbarian”

Language Is in Terms of Homer and the Carians

Strabo, Geography 73

Filippomaria Pontani

1.8 Plurilingualism in China and Inner Asia in the 12th Century ce

“Khitan Reciting Poetry” 83

Mårten Söderblom Saarela

Part 2 Etymology

2.1 Introduction 93

Glenn W. Most, Dagmar Schäfer, and Michele Loporcaro

2.2 An Early Post-Vedic Treatise on the Etymological Explanation of Words

Yāska, Etymology 107

Johannes Bronkhorst

2.3 A 4th-Century bce Greek Philosophical Analysis of the Methods and

Limits of Etymology

Plato, Cratylus 119

Glenn W. Most

2.4 A 1st-Century bce Roman Polymath’s Explanation of the Mysteries of

Latin

Varro, On the Latin Language 134

Glenn W. Most and Michele Loporcaro

2.5 A 1st-Century ce Stoic Etymological and Allegorical Explanation of

Greek Gods

Cornutus, Compendium of Greek Theology 155

Glenn W. Most

2.6 Zheng Xuan and Commentarial Etymology (2nd Century ce) 168

Dagmar Schäfer

2.7 Etymology in the Most Important Reference Encyclopedia of Late

Antiquity (ca. 600 ce)

Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 182

Michele Loporcaro and Glenn W. Most

2.8 Buddhist Etymologies from First-Millennium India and China

Works by Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, and Paramārtha 200

Roy Tzohar

2.9 An Influential Latin Dictionary and Its Etymologies (12th Century ce) in

the Linguistic Landscape of Medieval Europe

Hugutio of Pisa’s Derivationes 212

Michele Loporcaro

Part 3 Lexicography

3.1 Introduction 229

Mårten Söderblom Saarela

3.2 Lexicality and Lexicons from Mesopotamia 240

Markham J. Geller

3.3 Translating Oriental Words into Greek

A Papyrus Glossary from the 1st Century ce 245

Filippomaria Pontani

3.4 The Making of Monolingual Dictionaries

The Prefaces to the Lexica of Hesychius (6th Century ce) and Photius (9th

Century ce) 252

Filippomaria Pontani

3.5 A 10th-Century ce Byzantine Encyclopedia and Lexicon

Suda, Letter Sigma 264

Glenn W. Most

3.6 A Dictionary of the Imperial Capital

Shen Qiliang’s Da Qing quanshu (1683) 274

Mårten Söderblom Saarela

Part 4 Translation

4.1 Introduction 287

Dagmar Schäfer and Markham J. Geller

4.2 Translators of Sumerian

The Unsung Heroes of Babylonian Scholarship 300

Markham J. Geller

4.3 The Earliest and Most Complete Story of the Translation of the

Pentateuch into Greek (2nd Century bce)

The Letter of Aristeas 317

Benjamin G. Wright iii

4.4 “Faithful” and “Unfaithful” Translations

The Greco-Latin Tradition in Jerome’s Letter to Pammachius

(395/396 ce) 329

Filippomaria Pontani

4.5 A 4th-Century ce Buddhist Note on Sanskrit-Chinese Translation

Dao’an’s Preface to the Abridgement of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā

Sūtra 339

Bill M. Mak

4.6 An 8th-Century ce Indian Astronomical Treatise in Chinese

The Nine Seizers Canon by Qutan Xida 352

Bill M. Mak

4.7 Two 8th-Century ce Recensions of Amoghavajra’s Buddhist Astral

Compendium

Treatise on Lunar Mansions and Planets 363

Bill M. Mak

4.8 Arabic and Arabo-Latin Translations of Euclid’s Elements 376

Sonja Brentjes

Part 5 Writing Systems

5.1 Introduction 391

Dagmar Schäfer, Markham J. Geller, and Glenn W. Most

5.2 A 4th-Century bce Greek Philosophical Myth about the Egyptian

Origins of Writing

Plato, Phaedrus 406

Glenn W. Most

5.3 A Buddhist Mahāyāna Account of the Origin of Language

The Descent into Laṅkā Scripture (Laṅkāvatārasūtra) 416

Roy Tzohar

5.4 Stories of Origin

Ibn al-Nadīm, Kitāb al-Fihrist 425

Sonja Brentjes

5.5 Inventing or Adapting Scripts in Inner Asia

The Jin and Yuan Histories and the Early Manchu Veritable Records

Juxtaposed (1340s–1630s) 444

Mårten Söderblom Saarela

5.6 An Essay on the Use of Chinese and Korean Language in Late 18th-

Century ce Chosŏn

Yu Tŭkkong, “Hyang’ŏ pan, Hwaŏ pan” 454

Mårten Söderblom Saarela

Index of Subjects 463

Index of Names 476

Index of Sources 481

"Was plurilingualism the exception or the norm in traditional Eurasian scholarship? This volume presents a selection of primary sources-in many cases translated into English for the first time-with introductions that provide fascinating historical materials for challenging notions of the ways in which traditional Eurasian scholars dealt with plurilingualism and monolingualism. Comparative in approach, global in scope, and historical in orientation, it engages with the growing discussion of plurilingualism and focuses on fundamental scholarly practices in various premodern and early modern societies-Chinese, Indian, Mesopotamian, Jewish, Islamic, Ancient Greek, and Roman-asking how these were conceived by the agents themselves. The volume will be an indispensable resource for courses on these subjects and on the history of scholarship and reflection on language throughout the world"-- Provided by publisher.

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