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In Defence of Victorians

From: N Wolcott <nwolcott~at~dsdial.net>
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 16:20:46 -0400
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

It is now going on 140 years since the first Victorian Verne translations: the language has changed significantlyl since those days. We find ourselves reading these old translations rather as the American Founding Fathers would have felt reading the English of Shakespeare. (Only in New Zealand do the old terms such as "moleskin" (common in the US 50 years ago) survive.)

One of the most complete and scientifically accurate renditions of the Moon novels is that of Thomas H. Linklater (Routledge, 1877). Art Evans (SFS, March 2005) has pointed out some apparent "mistakes, jewels" in Linklater's translation which may in fact be only a reflection on our current understanding of these words as opposed to their meaning at the time.

1. "Si les Arcadiens prétendirent avoir habité la Terre à une époque où la lune n'existait pas encore, ...", translated as:

   "... although the Arcadians pretended that they had inhabited the earth at a time when the moon did not yet exist."

One finds "pretend" used in the sense of profess, propose, hypothecate, frequently at this time and I believe elsewhere in Verne, a now obsolete use.

pretend -- to hypothesize; to profess, perhaps falsely, or without substantiation as yet; to conjecture. Largely obsolete in this meaning today. 2. To bring or put forward, set forth, hold out, offer for action, consideration, or acceptance; to proffer, present; to bring (a charge, an action at law). OED. 5. To put forth or lay a claim to (a thing); to assert as a right or possession; to claim. Obs. OED.

Earlier in the same volume we have another "pretend":

p. 194 "And you pretend, Nicholl," asked Michael, "that by means of these hieroglyphics, more incompreehensible than the Egyptian Ibis, you can discover the initial velocity requisite to be given to the projectile?"

2. "La discussion tournait aux personnalités, le président intervint."


"As the discussion was taking a personal turn, the president interfered."

Mt dictionary (Bellow's, 1950) gives for intervenir "to interfere, to intervene". See also

Interfere (Page: 777) Webster 1913
In`ter*fere" (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Interfered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Interfering.] [OF. entreferir to strike each other; entre between (L. inter) + OF. ferir to strike, F. f鲩r, fr. L. ferire. See Ferula.]

1. To come in collision; to be in opposition; to clash; as, interfering claims, or commands.

2. To enter into, or take a part in, the concerns of others; to intermeddle; to interpose.

  To interfere with party disputes. Swift.
  There was no room for anyone to interfere with his own opinions. Bp. Warburton. (Webster1913)
3. "Je suis homme d'intérieur, mois, et trés fort sur l'article ménage"

translated as"

"I am a homely man, I am, and a capital housekeeper". For comparison Lewis Mercier gives:

"I am a domesticated man and strong in housekeeping."

See;

Homely , a. Webster's 1913 dictionary:
1. Belonging to, or having the characteristics of, home; domestic; familiar; intimate. [Archaic]

  With all these men I was right homely, and communed with, them long and oft. Foxe.
  Their homely joys, and destiny obscure. Gray. (W1913)

4. "Mon ami, réponndit le capitaine, la parabole est une courbe du second ordre qui résulte de la intersection d'un cône coupé par un plan, parallèment à un des ses côtes."

translated by THL as:

"My friend, replied the captain, "the parabola is a curve of the second order, which results from the section of a cone intersected by a plane parallelly to one of its sides." See:

Parallelly (Page: 1040) Webster, 1913
 adv. In a parallel manner; with parallelism. [R.] Dr. H. More. W1913

In the next paragraph Verne uses "parallèle" instead of "parallèment", translated as "parallel".


"Hyperbola, Michael (Michel has become Michael in ths xlation), is a curve of the second order, produced by the intersection of a conic surface with a plane parallel to its axis, which constitutes two branches, separated from each other, extending indefinitely in both directions." THL seems to be accomodating the meaning of the two different words.

The American Victorians fare a little better than the English in their "political correctness". The Ogilvie (NY 1890) edition of Topsy Turvy contains both of the passages deleted by Sampson Low:

"But there were no more deserted islands: the English had gobbled them all up" (XIII)

"The Sultan rightly ranked as one of the most remarkable rulers of those people of Central Africa who try to escape the influence, or more correctly the domination of England." (XVII).

But even here there are many more deletions.

Another word which occurs in Centre of the Earth is "cabinet", referring to the Professor's study. While this might sound erroneous today, the following definition survives:

Cab"i*net (?), n. [F., dim. of cabine or cabane. See Cabin, n.] W1913

1. A hut; a cottage; a small house. [Obs.]

  Hearken a while from thy green cabinet, The rural song of careful Colinet. Spenser.
2. A small room, or retired apartment; a closet.

3. A private room in which consultations are held.

  Philip passed some hours every day in his father's cabinet. Prescott.
6. Any building or room set apart for the safe keeping and exhibition of works of art, etc.;
[cabinet is used in the sense of study in the Stephen White translation of Centre of the Earth; i.e. Dr. Lidenbrock's cabinet ]

N Wolcott nwolcott2~at~post.harvard.edu
Received on Tue 02 Aug 2005 - 23:23:10 IDT

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