Mobilis in mobile? or mobili?

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mken...@aol.com

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Oct 5, 2021, 7:22:51 AM10/5/21
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Bonjour les connaisseurs,

"… Jules Verne et son éditeur Hetzel s'interrogèrent sur l'exacte orthographe. Hetzel adressa alors leur interrogation à une de ses connaissances, l'archéologue Jules Quicherat (1814-1882), frère du latiniste Louis-Marie Quicherat (1799-1884). Le 6 mai 1875, l'éditeur reçu [sic] cette réponse :

« Mon cher Hetzel, M. Vernes (sic) se trompe, et vous êtes dans le vrai. Les adjectifs en bilis ne sont pas de ceux qui admettent la double terminaison à l'ablatif. Il n'en ont qu'une: celle en i. Ce n'est pas vous et moi seulement qui le disons: c'est tous ceux qui passent leur vie à faire du latin, et mon frère en premier dont j'ai eu soin à prendre l'avis quant à ce. Tout à vous, J. Quicherat » (BnF, NAF 16985, f° 206)."

They also say that the mistake was corrected in the 1880 (French) edition of 20000 Leagues, and in The Mysterious Island (1875).

But Jauzac says:
«… la devise de la p. 57 retrouve enfin son orthographe correcte avec MOBILE au bas de la page…» (p. 182, referring to the 1890 edition).

So "mobile" is also correct? It’s really confusing. Do you know why "mobili" was replaced by "mobile" in the 1890 edition? Au plaisir de vous lire!

Best wishes
Matthias

Phineas G

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Nov 20, 2021, 11:39:44 AM11/20/21
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The following footnote appears in Walter Miller and Fredrick Walter's annotated edition of the book in question:

"This hybrid Latin phrase causes some concern to the original French compositors. The Hattchet edition gives it Mobilis in Mobili, in the table of contents, chapter part title, the page heads, and the chapter body, then in a later reference (II 6), corrects it to Mobilis in Mobile. THe 1871 Hetzel edition corrects everything to the latter except the I 8 body appearance (a logo), and a later Hetzel edition corrects that appearance as well. It would seem that mobile  is right, but in III 16 of this novel's sequel, The Mysterious Island (1875), Hetzel reverts to the former spelling. So which is it? We reason it out this way: (1) In Verne's usage, mobile would function as a singular noun, whereas mobili would be plural; (2)Verne himself translates the term as l'element mobile; (3) Since his French gives the singular (l'element) rather than the plural (les elements), we accordingly give the Latin singular throughout. As for the motto's significance, helpful English variations might include flexible within flux, changing with change, or, as Allen Knots, Jr, has suggested, free in a free world."

mken...@aol.com

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Nov 20, 2021, 12:44:13 PM11/20/21
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Hello Phineas,

thanks a lot! It seems to be quite complicated.

I clicked the link that is provided on http://mobilismobile.free.fr/accueil/mobili.php ; the content is still available on archive.org:
""mobile is the ablative of a masculine or neuter noun, and "mobili" that of an adjective: this variation [or variant?] does not seem to mean anything [or: seems to be insignificant?]; it may be a glitch." «… il avait donné à son sous-marin un nom latin, le « Nautilus », et choisi une devise latine, « Mobilis in mobile ». C’est la forme qu’on lit dans l’édition de 1871, mais dans l’édition de 1880, la devise est « Mobilis in mobili » (« mobile » est l’ablatif d’un nom masculin ou féminin, « mobili » l’ablatif d’un adjectif : aucune signification ne paraît s’attacher à cette variation, peut-être involontaire) :
> Mobile dans l’élément mobile ! Cette devise s’appliquait justement à cet appareil sous-marin, à la condition de traduire la préposition in par dans et non par sur.

Then I asked in a Latin forum and got the following answer:

So it seems that "mobili" is correct, whereas "mobile" is quite dubious. You may see it as a confirmation of what Quicherat wrote.

According to the annotation in Volker’s German edition of the novel, all Hetzel editions of L’Île mysterieuse have "mobili". I have checked the in-18 of Vingt mille lieues sous les mers, the "hybrid" Hetzel-Hachette (cover by Hachette, interior by Hetzel), which very probably features the last printing of the in-18 by Hetzel. It also has "mobili". I guess "mobili" is correct and should be used in reprints and translations of both L’Île mysterieuse and Vingt mille lieues sous les mers.

Best wishes
Matthias
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