Sunday, April 12 Reflection
This week we were working with another student in the “classroom”. The new student was a friend that I often talked Ge’ez things with. He had also been doing classes with my language partner as well. We had talked about it for a while but it was a scheduling conflict that brought us to working together. I remember I was really excited to recommend my language partner to my good friend so it was really nice to finally have him in the classroom. I do recognize though that it was good to have personal tutoring time so we could get a foundational instruction.
Our classroom format was the same as usual but we just took turns reading and translating. We translate on the spot by speaking and discuss word/tense choice as we go. We were able to give each other feedback and chime in to the questions our language partner had for us. We also made sure to discuss with each other before about not judging one another just as a disclaimer but that didn’t pose an issue during our sessions.
At first we worked on a manuscript that had been uploaded on the British Library called the Vision of Theophilus and though it was my first time reading from a manuscript this semester it wasn’t too bad. It was a hagiography of Theophilus and also told the story of Mary and Jesus (from conception, incarnation, exile, etc. onwards). The next work we worked on a scanned version of a very old book (dated in the 1400s) called the Book of Mystery by Abba Giorgis zeGasicha. It was of Abba Giyorgis’ refutation of the canons of the Council of Chalcedon (451 AD). This manuscript was much more difficult to read as it was older and stored as a scan of a scan rather than a picture. Nevertheless, it was very interesting! Here is an excerpt from another section of the book.
ለቀዳማዊ፡ ምስለ፡ ካልአይ፨ The first with the second,
ወለሣልሳዊ፡ ምስለ፡ ራብዓይ፨ And the third with the fourth,
ፍልጠተ፡ ዓመታት፡ በዘይትሌለይ፨ (Who made) the division of the years into which they are separated,
ውስተ፡ ልበ፡ መሓስባን፡ በዘይትሔለይ፨ In which they are intelligible to the mind(s) of astronomers,
ሎቱ፡ ስብሐት፡ ለብሑተ፡ ስልጣን፡ ወዕበይ፨ To Him be glory, to (Him who is) alone in authority and greatness,
ለዓለመ፡ ዓለመ፡ አሜን፨ Unto ages of ages, amen.
This work was less of a story and more like a theological analysis. It required a different set of vocabulary though its focus was still the Incarnation of Christ. It also contained some poetry of exaltation to God that was quite abstract as we can see in the example excerpt.
I know I wouldn’t have dared to look at something like this on my own so I’m very glad our language partner challenged us with this!
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