tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post6658015528660327499..comments2024-03-27T01:28:28.346-07:00Comments on False Machine: G+ Seminar - Wizards in Towerspjamesstuarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13288777018721199748noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-42977335632221011312017-02-18T12:16:12.042-08:002017-02-18T12:16:12.042-08:00The links to ngrams suggest other searches.
1) Wi...The links to ngrams suggest other searches.<br /><br />1) Wizards don't live in towers, they live in houses:<br />https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=wizard%27s+tower_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+castle_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+house_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+hut%2Cwizard%27s+cottage%2Cwizard%27s+palace&year_start=1890&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=5&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20tower_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20castle_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20house_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20hut%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20cottage%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20palace%3B%2Cc0<br /><br />2) A bit off topic but if you're going to find a magic-type person in a dwelling, it'll be a witch in a house:<br />https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=witch%27s+house_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+tower_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+castle_NOUN%2Cwizard%27s+house_NOUN&year_start=1890&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=5&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cwitch%20%27s%20house_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20tower_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20castle_NOUN%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cwizard%20%27s%20house_NOUN%3B%2Cc0<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13575477225528147751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-12750541234622517532017-02-03T07:39:09.972-08:002017-02-03T07:39:09.972-08:00Tried to reach you guys earlier...Do not forget th...Tried to reach you guys earlier...Do not forget the Stylites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StyliteSettembrinihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10393110320011475891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-918496284836319832017-02-01T08:23:45.499-08:002017-02-01T08:23:45.499-08:00For what it's worth, here's a mid-seventee...For what it's worth, here's a mid-seventeenth-century example of someone who clearly thinks that a 'high lonely towr' is the appropriate place for him to carry out his magical studies:<br /><br />Or let my Lamp at midnight hour,<br />Be seen in som high lonely Towr,<br />Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,<br />With thrice great Hermes, or unsphear<br />The spirit of Plato to unfold<br />What Worlds, or what vast Regions hold<br />The immortal mind that hath forsook<br />Her mansion in this fleshly nook:<br />And of those Dæmons that are found<br />In fire, air, flood, or under ground,<br />Whose power hath a true consent<br />With Planet, or with Element.<br /><br />- John Milton, 'Il Penseroso' (1645)Joseph Manolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05387275537008858939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4522018539311056682.post-53441397070934257712017-02-01T07:41:25.279-08:002017-02-01T07:41:25.279-08:00It seems to me that in demanding a ["wizard&q...It seems to me that in demanding a ["wizard"|"enchanter"|etc.] in a "tower" prior to the 19th century, the linguistic angle has been overlooked a bit. There's some discussion about whether the Tower of Babel was properly a "tower" or whether that was a translation issue, but the word "tower" is itself derived from a more general Latin word meaning "high structure":<br /><br />Old English torr "tower, watchtower," from Latin turris "a tower, citadel, high structure" (also source of Old French tor, 11c., Modern French tour; Spanish, Italian torre "tower"), possibly from a pre-Indo-European Mediterranean language. Meaning "lofty pile or mass" is recorded from mid-14c. Also borrowed separately 13c. as tour, from Old French tur; the modern spelling (1520s) represents a merger of the two forms.<br /><br />So when writers in English later refer to ancient wizards who lived in "towers", they may very well be translating ancient ziggurats, mountaintops, forts, citadels, or castles directly or indirectly from Latin sources that called all of these things "turris".Picadorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01244353406711565712noreply@blogger.com