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Saturday, August 11, 2007

West of Bathurst 189

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Heh...this comic needs footnotes.

The Latin translation of "West of Bathurst" in the comic was provided--with several possible variations--by Adam Bishop, Jennifer Konieczny's medievalist friend. My own knowledge of Latin is, unfortunately, confined to fading memories of Wheelock's Latin and not-such-fading memories of my desperate and unsuccessful attempts to translate hitherto untranslated Latin passages so that I could include them in my dissertation. Therefore, if any of you have a problem with "ab occidente de Bathursto" (Adam really agonised over those prepositions, by the way), I suggest you hunt Adam down and explain to him how and why he is wrong. For my part, I shall simply thank him profusely.

The Middle English gloss is mine.

The passage Casey is reading out is by Frederick Barbarossa.

This comic is dedicated to Adam Bishop, Jennifer Konieczny, Helen Marshall, Peter Buchanan, and anyone else who has taken (or is about to take) the U of T Medieval Centre's terrifying Ph.D. Latin exam.

Saturday, August 11, 2007
Panel 1: In the title panel of this colour comic, we see what looks like a page from a medieval manuscript. The text on it, in Gothic script, reads, "Ab occidente de bathursto." The "A" is a decorated initial. There's also a Middle English gloss in faded brown ink: "þys auctor ys Kari Maaren." We can see Tom, an Asian male Davies Junior Fellows, peering out from behind the page.

Panel 2: Casey, Marie, and Barbara are sitting on a bench in the Davies College basement. Casey is reading from a piece of paper, while Barbara translates his words in her own unique way. Marie listens, smiling.

Casey: "Omnibus qui causa studiorum peregrinantur scolaribus et maxime divinarum..."

Barbara: The omnibus that causes a student to become a clueless hobbit and a great big priest...

Panel 3: Tom, passing by, notices what is going on.

Casey: "...atque sacrarum legum professoribus hoc nostre pietatis beneficium indulgemus..."

Barbara: ...and the sacred legs of the professor that our potato pies benefit from indulging in...

Panel 4:

Casey:
"...ut ad loca, in quibus litterarum exercentur studia, tam ipsi quam eorum nuntii veniant et habitent in eis securi."

Barbara: ...who are crazy, in the quibbling literary excrement they study, wear their silly nuns' hats as they vent and live in security.

Panel 5: Tom, looking furious, creeps towards them, looking ready to pounce.

Casey: "Dignum namque existimavimus, ut, cum bona facientes nostram laudem atque protectionem mereantur..."

Barbara: The dignified name of their existence comes out of our bony faces, which loudly protect the meerca--

Panel 6: Tom screams and gesticulates as the others watch him in awe.

Tom: STOP MOCKING THE PH.D. LATIN EXAM!

Panel 7: Casey clutches at his heart as Tom buries his head in his hands.

Barbara: We shall now take a short intermission as we wait for the medievalist to run sobbing from the room.

Marie: Is it four times he's failed now, or only three?

Alt-Text: No matter what you think of Barbara, you've got to admit that someone has to have a pretty special kind of brain to be able to translate "pietatis" as "potato pies" on the fly.

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