Oyarsa in "Out of the Silent Planet"
David Lummus
I'm reading a medieval text by Bernardus Silvestris, called the
Cosmographia, and I came across the name Oyarses. I can't find any
translation or reference to this name anywhere. I was wondering if anyone
knows where C.S. Lewis got the name from. I'd appreciate any help. You can
email answers to me or post them. Thank you.
Christian Rendel
"David Lummus" <davi...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
Lewis refers to Bernardus Silvestris in ch. XXII of /Out of the Silent
Planet/ where he cites a letter as written to him by Ransom:
"I am now working at the Platonists of the twelfth century and
incidentally discovering that they wrote damnably difficult Latin. In
one of them, Bernardus Silvestris, there is a word I should particularly
like your views on - the word /Oyarses/. It occurs in the description of
a voyage through the heavens, and an /Oyarses/ seems to be the
'intelligence' or tutelary spirit of a heavenly sphere, i.e. in our
language, of a planet. I asked C.J. about it and he says it ought to be
/Ousiarches/. ..."
--
Christian Rendel Ren...@t-online.de
04/29/98 08:17
---------
Using: OUI 1.9 Beta 0 from http://www.peaktopeak.com
b...@dragontree.com
On 29 Apr 1998 06:17:28 GMT,
Ren...@t-online.de (Christian Rendel)
wrote:
>"David Lummus" <davi...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
>> I'm reading a medieval text by Bernardus Silvestris, called the
>> Cosmographia, and I came across the name Oyarses.
Could you please quote the context? I've
always wondered.
>> I can't find any
>> translation or reference to this name anywhere. I was wondering if
>> anyone knows where C.S. Lewis got the name from. I'd appreciate any
>> help. You can email answers to me or post them. Thank you.
>
>Lewis refers to Bernardus Silvestris in ch. XXII of /Out of the Silent
>Planet/ where he cites a letter as written to him by Ransom:
>
>"I am now working at the Platonists of the twelfth century and
>incidentally discovering that they wrote damnably difficult Latin. In
>one of them, Bernardus Silvestris, there is a word I should particularly
>like your views on - the word /Oyarses/. It occurs in the description of
>a voyage through the heavens, and an /Oyarses/ seems to be the
>'intelligence' or tutelary spirit of a heavenly sphere, i.e. in our
>language, of a planet. I asked C.J. about it and he says it ought to be
>/Ousiarches/. ..."
Here's all Alta Vista can find: :-)
Wetherbee (trans). Cosmographia of
Bernardus Silvestris PA8275 B25 C613
Bernard Silvestris (12th c.)
The Cosmographia of Bernardus
Silvestris, tr. Winthrop Wetherbee
(1973)
PA8275.B25.C613
Weatherbee, Winthrop. Platonism and
Poetry in the Twelfth Century: The
Literary Influence
of the School of Chartres. Princeton,
1972.
_________________. The Cosmographia of
Bernardus Silvestris. Translation and
Introduction. Columbia University Press,
1973.
Is there a translation on the net
anywhere? The original should be public
domain by now....
Mary
tmo...@hotmail.com
"David Lummus" <davi...@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
> I'm reading a medieval text by Bernardus Silvestris, called the
> Cosmographia, and I came across the name Oyarses. I can't find any
> translation or reference to this name anywhere. I was wondering if
> anyone knows where C.S. Lewis got the name from. I'd appreciate any
> help. You can email answers to me or post them. Thank you.
>
Lewis mentions the Silvestris passage in one of his non-fiction works (I
believe, in an appendix to _The Discarded Image_). Unlike the "Lewis" who
wrote to Ransom in OOTSP, the real life Lewis did not (IIRC) hesitate or
puzzle over the "ousiarches" emendation at all; (no wonder, since it is
almost certainly correct) he simply retails it.
So, Lewis got the name from the (presumably anonymous) scribe who first wrote
down the word incorrectly -- the fictional Lewis, of course, has to hesitate
to accept the emendation theory, so that he can write his letter to Ransom,
and learn about Ransom's meeting with "Oyarsa"...
t
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