Looking for a name that's Greeky or Latiny for part of a big project
March 20, 2015 8:33 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for a Greek or Latin name that basically means holy/sacred/important/influential book/writing/teaching. Something grandiose.
I'm working on a super huge music project with the name Triptych. Part one is Musica Universalis and part three is Threnody. It's the middle part that I'm struggling with. It is going to involve the world's religious and philosophical texts. I want something that continues the Greek or Latin naming convention I've been using so far. Something that means sacred or great or important book or writings, religious and/or philosophical. Based on my very poor Latin skills I came up with Liber Sacer which does not roll off the tongue particularly well but more importantly already has a strong association with a specific text which is not what I'm looking for. Though being associated with a specific text is not necessarily a bad thing but it would have to be something a bit more neutral and ancient.
Ideally it would be something that the average classically educated person would understand or recognize or maybe your slightly above-averagely classically educated person.
And of course I'm open to suggestions in other languages or whatever.
I'm working on a super huge music project with the name Triptych. Part one is Musica Universalis and part three is Threnody. It's the middle part that I'm struggling with. It is going to involve the world's religious and philosophical texts. I want something that continues the Greek or Latin naming convention I've been using so far. Something that means sacred or great or important book or writings, religious and/or philosophical. Based on my very poor Latin skills I came up with Liber Sacer which does not roll off the tongue particularly well but more importantly already has a strong association with a specific text which is not what I'm looking for. Though being associated with a specific text is not necessarily a bad thing but it would have to be something a bit more neutral and ancient.
Ideally it would be something that the average classically educated person would understand or recognize or maybe your slightly above-averagely classically educated person.
And of course I'm open to suggestions in other languages or whatever.
Best answer: The most obvious thing I think of is Scriptura (Latin for scriptures, of course). Many people know the word because of the reformed Christian doctrine of sola scriptura, but it could refer to anything written.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:10 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:10 AM on March 20, 2015
Canon? Like the others, it evokes something specifically musical as well as the textual meaning you're looking for.
posted by The Giant Rat of Sumatra at 9:22 AM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Giant Rat of Sumatra at 9:22 AM on March 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Bonus if Canon involves an actual cannon (cf. 1812 Overture).
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:28 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:28 AM on March 20, 2015
áxios léxeis (Greek, transliterated: worthy words)
ierá lógia (Greek, transliterated: sacred words)
posted by longdaysjourney at 9:30 AM on March 20, 2015
ierá lógia (Greek, transliterated: sacred words)
posted by longdaysjourney at 9:30 AM on March 20, 2015
Pontifex. Latin: “bridge builder”, plural Pontifices, member of a council of priests in ancient Rome.
Pontifex Maximus is the full title of the pope, colloquially known as the Pontiff.
So you've got bridge builder, you've got priest, you've got il papa, and also the true meaning really does extend to all religions, not just the Roman church.
posted by janey47 at 9:32 AM on March 20, 2015
Pontifex Maximus is the full title of the pope, colloquially known as the Pontiff.
So you've got bridge builder, you've got priest, you've got il papa, and also the true meaning really does extend to all religions, not just the Roman church.
posted by janey47 at 9:32 AM on March 20, 2015
How about Logos?
Logos (UK /ˈloʊɡɒs/, /ˈlɒɡɒs/, or US /ˈloʊɡoʊs/; Greek: λόγος, from λέγω lego "I say") is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word", "speech", "account", "to reason"[1][2] it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus (ca. 535–475 BC), who used the term for a principle of order and knowledge.[3]posted by jamjam at 9:53 AM on March 20, 2015
Ancient philosophers used the term in different ways. The sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to refer to "reasoned discourse"[4] or "the argument" in the field of rhetoric.[5] The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the divine animating principle pervading the Universe.
Under Hellenistic Judaism, Philo (c. 20 BC – AD 50) adopted the term into Jewish philosophy.[6] The Gospel of John identifies the Logos, through which all things are made, as divine (theos),[7] and further identifies Jesus as the incarnate Logos. ...
Hmm, which for some reason made me think of Philosophia from Boethius' Consolatio Philosophiae. Although Philosophia does show up whinging about Boethius falling to artistic muses rather than to her --- but there's this great quote later on:
"And so not so much of this place moves me as your face,
nor do I need library walls arranged with ivory and glass
rather than the seat of your mind, in which are no books
but that which creates value in books,
sentences of my books I once arranged."
You can find the Latin at Perseus.
I can't come up with a good phrase here, but you could go with Scriptura Philosophiae or perhaps Consolatio Musices ?
posted by nat at 9:53 AM on March 20, 2015
"And so not so much of this place moves me as your face,
nor do I need library walls arranged with ivory and glass
rather than the seat of your mind, in which are no books
but that which creates value in books,
sentences of my books I once arranged."
You can find the Latin at Perseus.
I can't come up with a good phrase here, but you could go with Scriptura Philosophiae or perhaps Consolatio Musices ?
posted by nat at 9:53 AM on March 20, 2015
Response by poster: Oh wow, these are all great ideas and in such a short time. Magnum Opus is perhaps a bit too meta as this work is clearly my magnum opus and so calling one of the parts Magnum Opus is confusing to me at least. Though Magna Opera might work as it emphasizes better that there isn't one text being dealt with but all of them. But then it also leaves open other arts which might be confusing. Pontifex/Pontifex Maximus and Numen are both really nice but don't make a strong enough connection to the texts themselves. This part of the work is very focussed on religious and philosophical texts and less the people or theologies behind them.
Scriptura is very good. Another person suggested this elsewhere.
Canon is very clever. I worry a bit about how the word has too strong a musical connection, but it is very good.
Logos is also very good but I wonder if it suggests the written word strongly enough?
áxios léxeis and ierá lógia are both awesome but I fear a bit too obscure for even the well-educated person.
Scriptura Philosophiae is also good but maybe too direct? I'm not sure.
A theme here is that perhaps I didn't emphasize enough that it's the actual books/writings that are the focus of this part of the project. Not their content but the actual physical books themselves.
Thanks everyone for the great ideas so far!
posted by bfootdav at 10:18 AM on March 20, 2015
Scriptura is very good. Another person suggested this elsewhere.
Canon is very clever. I worry a bit about how the word has too strong a musical connection, but it is very good.
Logos is also very good but I wonder if it suggests the written word strongly enough?
áxios léxeis and ierá lógia are both awesome but I fear a bit too obscure for even the well-educated person.
Scriptura Philosophiae is also good but maybe too direct? I'm not sure.
A theme here is that perhaps I didn't emphasize enough that it's the actual books/writings that are the focus of this part of the project. Not their content but the actual physical books themselves.
Thanks everyone for the great ideas so far!
posted by bfootdav at 10:18 AM on March 20, 2015
Nota Bene ("note this well", more loosely "pay attention to this"), plus 'Nota' sounds like 'note' as in musical note.
posted by Mogur at 11:39 AM on March 20, 2015
posted by Mogur at 11:39 AM on March 20, 2015
Best answer: In Greek a physical book is biblos (pl. bibloi) or biblion (pl. biblia). The word itself doesn't mean "sacred book" but just "book", but since it's obviously the source of bible, the connotations would be there.
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 12:02 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 12:02 PM on March 20, 2015
Response by poster: Biblia: Ooh, I like this! This puts the use of Greek at three out of four (there's a fourth part that I didn't mention in my post) leaving Musica Universalis as the lone Latin representative. Do you (or anyone) know how to Anglicize the Greek idea of "Music of the Spheres" which according to Google Translate is Μουσική των σφαιρών? In other words Musica Universalis is the Latin so what would be the Greek and then what would be the Englishy version of that?
posted by bfootdav at 12:19 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by bfootdav at 12:19 PM on March 20, 2015
Best answer: The Pythagorean "music of the spheres" is in Greek ἁρμονία σφαιρῶν harmonia sphairôn. (Or with definite articles, ἡ ἁρμονία τῶν σφαιρῶν hē harmonia tôn sphairôn, but it's fine to leave those out.) Greek thinkers used harmonia for musical harmony or music generally but also for any kind of well-ordered proportion; it's a central term in Pythagoreanism particularly.
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 1:55 PM on March 20, 2015
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 1:55 PM on March 20, 2015
Response by poster: /u/hoist with his own pet aardvark, thank you very much for your help! I think the careful reader will be able to figure out that Harmonia Sphairon renders to Music of the Spheres and Bibloi/Biblia (not sure which one to use) makes a clear connection as you've indicated.
This is awesome.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
(I'm going to keep this open for another day or so just in case anyone else has some thoughts.)
posted by bfootdav at 4:03 PM on March 20, 2015
This is awesome.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions!
(I'm going to keep this open for another day or so just in case anyone else has some thoughts.)
posted by bfootdav at 4:03 PM on March 20, 2015
If you want to go for an allusion which in some sense incorporates Musica Universalis and also refers to Pythagorean ideas, you could use the title Kepler chose for his exposition of celestial harmony: Harmonices Mundi
It is estimated that Kepler had begun working on Harmonices Mundi sometime near 1599, which was the year Kepler sent a letter to Maestlin detailing the mathematical data and proofs that he intended to use for his upcoming text, which he originally planned to name De harmonia mundi. Kepler was aware that the content of Harmonices Mundi closely resembled that of the subject matter for Ptolemy’s Harmonica, but was not concerned because the new astronomy Kepler would use, most notably the adoption of elliptic orbits in the Copernican system, allowed him to explore new theorems. Another important development that allowed Kepler to establish his celestial-harmonic relationships, was the abandonment of the Pythagorean tuning as the basis for musical consonance and the adoption of geometrically supported musical ratios; this would eventually be what allowed Kepler to relate musical consonance and the angular velocities of the planets. Thus Kepler could reason that his relationships gave evidence for God acting as a grand geometer, rather than a Pythagorean numerologist.[3]posted by jamjam at 6:04 PM on March 20, 2015
The concept of musical harmonies intrinsically existing within the spacing of the planets existed in medieval philosophy prior to Kepler. Musica Universalis was a traditional philosophical metaphor that was taught in the quadrivium, and was often referred to as the “music of the spheres.” Kepler was intrigued by this idea while he sought explanation for a rational arrangement of the heavenly bodies.[4] It should be noted that when Kepler uses the term “harmony” it is not strictly referring to the musical definition, but rather, a broader definition encompassing congruence in Nature and the workings of both the celestial and terrestrial bodies. He notes musical harmony as being a product of man, derived from angles, in contrast to a harmony that he refers to as being a phenomenon that interacts with the human soul. In turn, this allowed Kepler to claim the Earth has a soul because it is subjected to astrological harmony.[5]
Biblia: Ooh, I like this! This puts the use of Greek at three out of four
FWIW, I can't speak for the nuances of ancient usage but in modern Greek Βίβλος is clearly The Bible (and does not cover any other religious text ) while Βιβλία is just books.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:39 PM on March 20, 2015
FWIW, I can't speak for the nuances of ancient usage but in modern Greek Βίβλος is clearly The Bible (and does not cover any other religious text ) while Βιβλία is just books.
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:39 PM on March 20, 2015
Codex means the trunk of a tree, but has become synonymous with a bound book of pages (as opposed to a scroll or fan-fold work). It might be too exclusive for you, but the "tree trunk" metaphor might work well for the central passage of your work.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:16 AM on March 21, 2015
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:16 AM on March 21, 2015
And now I looked it up, and sure enough fan-fold codices are still referred to with that word. Ah well!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:18 AM on March 21, 2015
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 1:18 AM on March 21, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fiercecupcake at 8:48 AM on March 20, 2015