ivlia sē animadvertitNov 9, 2022

https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_18198/?sp=7

The most excellent labor of The Elements by Euclid of Megara arranged together with the most sharp-sighted Campanus on the art of geometry happily begins:
A point is that of which nothing is a part.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertit
And the first page of the 1482 printed edition ends by, among other things, clearly illustrating the differences between orthogonal, ambligonius (obtuse), and oxigonius (acute) triangular forms.
Nov 9, 2022 at 8:19amWeb
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 9, 2022

But the most fantastic thing on the entire first page is the abbreviated form of ūnīuscuiusque; the genitive masculine/feminine/neuter singular form of ūnusquisque.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unusquisque#Latin

It should be noted that the genitive masculine/feminine/neuter plural forms are, apparently, ūnōrumquōrumque, ūnārumquārumque, and ūnōrumquōrumque, respectively.

unusquisque - Wiktionary

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 9, 2022

& item alia. #Euclid #of #Megara #did #not #write #the #Elements

...

#notMyGeometer

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 10, 2022
The Latin text included in the 1482 print-edition of Elements was translated from the Arabic by Adelard of Bath in the 12th century, having itself been translated from the original Greek at some point (presumably before the 12th century though probably not possibly preceding 300-ish BC, around which time it was originally written by Euclid--of Alexandria.)
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 10, 2022
The Arabic source material for the Latin translation becomes quickly apparent when both the text and marginal diagrams on the first & second pages describe and label what are clearly a trapezoid and a trapezium as a #helmuaym and a #helmuariphe, respectively.
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 10, 2022

It is, perhaps, this transition from the Greek into the Arabic and then again from the Arabic into the Latin, which causes a relatively literal translation from the Latin into the English to feel relatively belabored. Or charming.

Anyway, the most sharp-sighted Campanus begins his rather-lengthy interjections and elucidations on the source material starting on page two of the 1482 print-edition in a voice that is relatively less belabored than the relatively more charming source material.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 10, 2022

Besides the switch in vocabularial proclivities, the voice of Campanus is denoted with a visibly smaller font size (printed books using #blackletter along with other vestiges from the hand-written era make for some incredibly labor-intensive #skeuomorphs.)

Blackletter as a script works so beautifully with written Latin because blackletter was made for--or at the very least primarily evolved to primarily support--writing in Latin, with its emphasis on speed and its de-emphasis on difficulty.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 11, 2022
Consideration to readability, however, seemingly ranged from “secondary” to “lol lmao” and the shortcomings of blackletter on that front are many and well documented.
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 11, 2022
The 1482 print-edition of Elements—and really any blackletter born from a printing press—at least has the benefit of having some degree of uniformity between identical letters within the confines of itself. Even still, though, legibility is usually dependent on the reader to gradually ascertain the quirks and grammatical tendencies of the scribe and/or typesetter for each and every book.
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 11, 2022
For an example found in the 1482 print-edition of Elements, a “v” in in the middle of a word will take on the appearance of a “u” and so the difference between “sine” & “sīve” can be easy to overlook.
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 11, 2022

Which is a pretty conventional quirk given the importance of #kerning. A more unconventional grammatical proclivity would be, as another example, combining sibi & invicem into one word to create a fever-dream monstrosity.

But it’s all a matter of taste—which is to say that quirks and fever-dream monstrosities aside, blackletter is a fantastic means by which the written #Latin language may be expressed. What blackletter is less fantastic for, however, is expressing math. Like Euclidean geometry.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 12, 2022
And yet. Proposition 1. To assemble an equilateral triangle over a given straight line.
#EuclideanGeometry
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 14, 2022

Overspecialized utilitarian glyphs aside, Latin supports The Elements of geometry rather well. The language’s built-in frameworks for spacial relationships and movement as directed through its procedural declension tables lend themselves nicely to the actual diagramming-out of Euclid's propositions.

Also, the adjectival form of the f-word may oftentimes be used interchangeably with "procedural" in regards to #Latin #DeclensionTables, if it so pleases.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 14, 2022

To excerpt very briefly from Proposition 1:
and because these (nominative plural [lines]) a.b and a.f (exit [using a verb implying motion, as opposed to placement]) from the (ablative singular [center]) of the (genitive singular [circle]) c.d.f to of its own (accusative singular [circumference]), they will be equal.

Having spacial relationships and movement as an integral part of a word's grammatical function adds a stylish, eurhythmic element to geometric diagrams.
Declension tables be damned.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 15, 2022
In his further-provided commentary on Proposition 1, the most sharp-sighted Campanus writes that "if, however, it is pleasing to assemble the remaining two types of triangles over that same line, there would be, it follows, a triangle with two equilateral sides and a triangle of three unequal sides..." and then continues on explaining how to do just precisely that.
#CampanusOfNovara #EuclideanGeometry
#ambligonius #oxigonius #equilateral
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 16, 2022
Campanus of Novara compiled this definitive Latin version of Elements in the 13th century, and it contains the remnants of prior works ft. Adelard of Bath, Robert of Chester, Herman of Carinthia, et al., all of who fall squarely into the Medieval era. And so it follows, then, that it is written in #MedievalLatin. Which is still #Latin, but it is Latin written by someone who writes it as a second language, never as a first.
And when reading it, as one normally does, the difference is appreciable.
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 17, 2022
Literary Latin from the classical era is so spectacularly inflected that it can start to feel purposely obtuse (or #ambligonius, per the source material) whereas Latin from the medieval era uses a more predictable word order and grammatical niceties such as prepositions and pronouns. Medieval Latin is host to its own other set of difficulties, but usually the Latin itself tends to be more easily understandable by someone not fluent in Latin (so, like, basically everyone.)
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 18, 2022

The difficulty with reading medieval Latin is actually reading it; punctuation, capitalization & spelling can be pretty variable and nothing written in #blackletter naturally stresses legibility.
Though blackletter itself is relatively fast and mechanical for the scribe, it is still extraordinarily labor-intensive given the scope at the time (all the books).

The letter m takes 9 separate strokes to make in blackletter; its abbreviated form is a single line over the preceding vowel. So, yeah.

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 18, 2022
The most convenient & succinct reference for scribal abbreviation is the book, meticulously-titled, “The elements of abbreviation in medieval Latin paleography,” and you may view an open access copy here:
https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/1821
where you may also download a pdf of said book, if it so pleases.
#Eugepae! #MedievalLatin #paleography #scribalAbbreviation
The elements of abbreviation in medieval Latin paleography

Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 21, 2022
Proposition 2: To lead from a given point, a straight line equal to a proposed straight line.
#EuclideanGeometry
Show threadivlia sē animadvertitNov 26, 2022
Proposition 3: To divide from the longer of two proposed unequal lines, one equal to the shorter.
#EuclideanGeometry
Show threadTīrō ŌrātiōnisDec 21, 2022
@ivlia wow 🤣