Blackwell's motto

[Peter Percival]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what does this mean-

svmite castalios nigris de fontibvs havstvs

I replaced the v's with u's and asked Google translate what

sumite castalios nigris de fontibus haustus

meant and it replied

Take it out of the black water sources inhaled Castalian

So it's a pun "black water sources" is "Blackwell". Ho ho ho. But
"inhaled"?


--
Do, as a concession to my poor wits, Lord Darlington, just explain
to me what you really mean.
I think I had better not, Duchess. Nowadays to be intelligible is
to be found out. -- Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

[Evertjan.]

Peter Percival <peterxp...@hotmail.com> wrote on 20 Jul 2017 in
alt.language.latin:

> Please excuse my ignorance, but what does this mean-
>
> svmite castalios nigris de fontibvs havstvs
>
> I replaced the v's with u's and asked Google translate what
>
> sumite castalios nigris de fontibus haustus
>
> meant and it replied
>
> Take it out of the black water sources inhaled Castalian
>
> So it's a pun "black water sources" is "Blackwell". Ho ho ho. But
> "inhaled"?

'Sumite' = second-person plural present active imperative of sumo
'to choose, take, select'
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sumo#Latin>

'Catalius' is a Pierrot,
the name of 4 butterfly species with a special striping.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castalius>

'de fontibus nigris' = 'of the blackwell'

'haustus' as a 4th declension substantive is a drink or a draught
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haustus>

'Sumite castalios nigris de fontibus haustus'
=
'Take the Pierrots of Blackwell as a draught'

This was, it seems, a 1901 pun
on poor Mr B. H. Blackwell of the Horace Club:

"When Benjamin Henry published his Book of the Horace Club, in June 1901, it
featured Hilaire Belloc’s “rebus” design with the motto: Sumite castalios
nigris da fontibus haustus, which stands as a continuing reminder of Mr.
Blackwell’s importance. But “Mr. Blackwell,” perhaps scarred by his early
poverty and lack of formal education, always dipped out of the limelight.
He forbore to mention that he was the Black Well source from which many
poets (Horace Club members included) had drawn their draughts."

<http://www.against-the-grain.com/2013/07/v25-3-international-dateline-a-
nest-of-singing-birds/>

--
Evertjan.
The Netherlands.
(Please change the x'es to dots in my emailaddress)

[Ed Cryer]

Castalia was a fountain on Parnassus, sacred to Apollo, the poets' god
with his Muses.
Ask Cicero what "svmite castalios nigris de fontibvs havstvs" means, and
he'd have recognised a good hexameter, meaning something like;
Take swigs of Castalia from the black wells.

Ed

[Peter Percival]

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense.

[libra...@yahoo.com]

Posted on Facebook by Blackwell's Bookshop:
Blackwell's Bookshop
November 20, 2019 · Shared with Public
So a few weeks ago we were asked about the Latin on the rebus -
Here is the origins story

The Latin was actually written by way of an apology to Benjamin Henry Blackwell in 1906 by Hilaire Belloc (now often famous for his Cautionary Tales for Children) – who had offered for publication a collection of essays which were subsequently found to have been already published in a ‘literary paper’; “By way of amends [Belloc] drew a rebus on his friends [BH Blackwell] name and composed a Latin hexameter to accompany it; Sumite Castalios nigris de fontibus haustus…” (Norrington, 1983:56) it has been reproduced many times by the company since and is regularly used on the Rare Book Catalogues.The translation reads: ‘From the Black Wells draw ye the Muses’ draughts’ in this case the muse is Castalios - Castalia was a fountain on Parnassus, sacred to Apollo, the poets' god.

[Evertjan.]

I wrote in this NG on 20 Juli 2017:

'Sumite' = second-person plural present active imperative of sumo
'to choose, take, select'
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sumo#Latin>

'Catalius' is a Pierrot,
the name of 4 butterfly species with a special striping.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castalius>

'de fontibus nigris' = 'of the blackwell'

'haustus' as a 4th declension substantive is a drink or a draught
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haustus>

'Sumite castalios nigris de fontibus haustus'
=
'Take the Pierrots of Blackwell as a draught'

This was, it seems, a 1901 pun
on poor Mr B. H. Blackwell of the Horace Club:

"When Benjamin Henry published his Book of the Horace Club, in June 1901, it
featured Hilaire Belloc’s “rebus” design with the motto: Sumite castalios
nigris da fontibus haustus, which stands as a continuing reminder of Mr.
Blackwell’s importance. But “Mr. Blackwell,” perhaps scarred by his early
poverty and lack of formal education, always dipped out of the limelight.
He forbore to mention that he was the Black Well source from which many
poets (Horace Club members included) had drawn their draughts."

[Evertjan.]

"Evertjan." <exxjxw.h...@inter.nl.net> wrote on 12 Jun 2020 in

Then Ed Cryer wrote on 20-07-17:

Castalia was a fountain on Parnassus, sacred to Apollo, the poets' god
with his Muses.
Ask Cicero what "svmite castalios nigris de fontibvs havstvs" means, and
he'd have recognised a good hexameter, meaning something like;
Take swigs of Castalia from the black wells.

[Evertjan.]

.. in alt.language.latin:

> Castalia was a fountain on Parnassus, sacred to Apollo, the poets' god
> with his Muses.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DelphiSpringRoman.JPG>

[m cropp]

[Ed Cryer]

Salutem iucundissimam, Evertjan! Ubi te tam diu celavisti?
Putabam egomet te morbo Covidiano periisse.

Edus

[t400ec]

Eduardus Edo sal.

Quomodo scisti illum m. cropp fuisse noster Evertjan? Abhinc multos
annos interdum scripta sua proponere solebat.

vale

[t400ec]

Nunc suspicor m. cropp non esse Evertjan sed tantum verba illius
Evertjan abhinc tres annos missa citat.

vale

[Ed Cryer]

t400ec wrote:
> Nunc suspicor m. cropp non esse Evertjan sed tantum verba illius
> Evertjan abhinc tres annos missa citat.
>
> vale
>
>

Requiescat tunc Evertjan in pace.

Edus