Utopian language
The Utopian language is the language of the fictional land of Utopia, as described in Thomas More's Utopia. A brief sample of the constructed language is found in an addendum to More's book, written by his friend Peter Giles. Pretending to be factual, the book does not name the creator of the language; both More and Giles have been alternately credited, with Giles often thought to have designed the alphabet.
| Utopian | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Thomas More, Peter Giles |
| Date | 1516 |
| Setting and usage | Utopia (book) |
| Purpose | constructed language
|
| Utopian alphabet | |
| Sources | Influenced by Greek, Latin, and Hebrew |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Utopia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Grammar
Although some words in Utopian show different forms corresponding to different cases in the Latin translation, there is no evidence of a consistent relationship between form and meaning, as can be seen from the following comparison of the nominal, pronominal, and adjectival case forms:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | Vtopos, Boccas, bargol, he Ūtopus, dux, ūna, ego | |
| Accusative | hā, chamāan, āgrama, gymnosophon mē, insulam, civitātem, philosophicam | heman, paglōni mea, meliōra |
| Ablative | chama, gymnosophāon insulā, philosophiā | |
| Dative | bōdamilōmin mortālibus | |
| Genitive | māglōmi, baccan terrārum, omnium |
There are only four verbs in the Utopian poem, and these also show no evidence of a correspondence between form and function:
| 1st person | 3rd person | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | barchin, dramme impartiō, accipiō | |
| Perfect | labarembacha expressī | polta fēcit |
Writing system
Utopian has its own 22-letter alphabet, with letters based on the shapes of the circle, square, and triangle.[1] These correspond almost exactly to the 23-letter Roman alphabet used in the 16th century, lacking only z. The letters f, k, q, and x only appear in the alphabet, not in the Utopian text.
Examples
The only extant text in Utopian is a quatrain written by Peter Giles in an addendum to Utopia:
- Vtopos ha Boccas peu la chama polta chamaan.
Bargol he maglomi baccan ſoma gymno ſophaon.
Agrama gymnoſophon labarembacha bodamilomin.
Voluala barchin heman la lauoluola dramme pagloni.[2]
It is translated literally into Latin as:
- Utopus me dux ex non insula fecit insulam.
Una ego terrarum omnium absque philosophia
Civitatem philosophicam expressi mortalibus
Libenter impartio mea, non gravatim accipio meliora.[3]
This, in turn, is translated into English as follows:
- The commander Utopus made me into an island out of a non-island.
I alone of all nations, without philosophy,
have portrayed for mortals the philosophical city.
Freely I impart my benefits; not unwillingly I accept whatever is better.[4][5]
Armed with these translations, it is possible to deduce the following vocabulary:
Vocabulary of the Utopian Language Utopian Latin English agrama civitatem city (accusative; cf. Sanskrit grāmam, village) baccan omnium of all barchin impartio I impart bargol una one, the only boccas dux commander bodamilomin mortalibus for the mortals chama insulā from (the/an) island (ablative) chamaan insulam island (accusative) dramme accipio I receive gymnosophaon philosophiā from philosophy (ablative) gymnosophon[6] philosophicam philosophical (accusative) ha me me he ego I heman mea (those which are) mine la non not larembacha expressi I have represented (perfect) lauoluola gravatim unwillingly (la + voluala) maglomi terrarum of the lands pagloni meliora those which are better; better things peu ex from, out of polta fecit I have made (perfect) soma absque without voluala libenter freely, willingly Vtopos Utopus Utopus (mythical founder of Utopia)
In accordance with 16th-century typographical custom, the letters v and u marked a distinction in position, not sound; v was used at the beginnings of words and u elsewhere, but the same letters could represent the sounds of either u or v. Analysis of the metre of the verse shows, however, that the reader was expected to read Vtopos as Utopos, voluala as volvala, and lauoluola as lavolvola.
More's text also contains Utopian "native" terms for Utopian concepts.
References
- Page 13 of the Basel 1518 edition of Utopia.
- Word divisions are taken from the 1st edition of 1516. The 2nd edition of 1518 merges peu and la together as well as gymno and sophaon (in the latter case certainly correctly); it also separates labarembacha into labarem and bacha. The text in Utopian letters in the 1516 edition writes cama, camaan, and pafloni in place of chama, chamaan, and pagloni. These discrepancies were corrected in the 1518 edition; however, new errors were introduced, e.g. utoqos for utopos and spma for soma.
- Copied from (page 13).
- More, Thomas (2002). George M. Logan; Robert M. Adams; Raymond Geuss; Quentin Skinner (eds.). Utopia (Revised ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-521-81925-3.
- Ralph Robinson, a 16th-century translator, rendered the passage into English as follows:
- My king and conqueror Utopus by name
- A prince of much renown and immortal fame
- Hath made me an isle that erst no island was
- Full fraught with worldly wealth, with pleasure, and solace.
- I one of all other without philosophy
- Have shaped for man a philosophical city.
- As mine I am nothing dangerous to impart,
- So better to receive I am ready with all my heart.
- Gymnosophos (γυμνόσοφος) is an unattested Greek adjective meaning "naked (and) wise." Gymnosophist was the Greek name for Indian yogis.
External links
- ZX-Utopian - Free font with Utopian alphabet.