The Creator of Essay and Father of All Bloggers

choi

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Patricfia Cohen, Conversation Across Centuries With the Father of All Bloggers; A kinship with Montaigne, a master of the essay. New York Times, Dec. 18, 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/books/18montaigne.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=essay%20father&st=cse
(about a book: Sarah Bakewell, How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer. Other Press, 2010)

Quote:

"Montaigne is considered the creator of the essay, a form that melds the intellectual and the personal * * * 'This idea — writing about oneself to create a mirror in which other people recognize their own humanity--has not existed forever,' Ms. Bakewell writes. 'It had to be invented. And, unlike many cultural inventions, it can be traced to a single person'

"Montaigne wrote about whatever crossed his mind: animals, sex, magic, diplomacy, violence, hermaphroditism, self-doubt. 'Essayer' means 'to try' in French, or as Ms. Bakewell adds, 'to test, or to taste it, or give it a whirl.'


My comment:
(a) Michel de Montaigne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne
(1533-1592; one of the most influential writers of the French Renaissance, known for popularising the essay as a literary genre and is popularly thought of as the father of Modern Skepticism; his massive volume Essais (translated literally as "Attempts") contains, to this day, some of the most widely influential essays ever written)
(b) The NYT report quotes Ms. Bakewell as using "essayer" whereas Wiki employs "essais."

(i) The ARTFL Project: The American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language. University of Chicago.
http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=frengdict

lists "essayer" as French verb ("try" in English) and "essai" as masculine noun ("test" in English).

(ii) In English, "essay" (as noun and transitive verb) still retains the original meaning of "test." As a biologist, I should know.

Etymology of the English noun "essay":
essay (n; Middle French essai, ultimately from Late Latin exagium act of weighing, from Latin ex- + agere to drive — more at AGENT)
All English definitions are from www.m-w.com.

(iii) In the context of the NYT report, the translation in Taiwan would be 隨筆/ 散文/ 漫談.
(c) turgid (adj; Latin turgidus, from turgēre to be swollen):
"1: being in a state of distension : swollen, tumid <turgid limbs>
2: excessively embellished in style or language : BOMBASTIC, POMPOUS
<turgid prose>"

I recall a criminal case (about an exhibitionist) decided by Massachusetts supreme court that used this word, unwilling to use common adjectives to describe an exited male organ.

(d) camper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camper
(A trailer or vehicle accessory used for camping, see recreational vehicle, travel trailer, popup camper or camper shell)
(e) University of Essex
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Essex
(town of Colchester, England; established in 1963; public)
(f) Wellcome Library
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellcome_Library
(founded in 1949 on the collection formed by Sir Henry Wellcome; financed by Wellcome Trust; in London)
(g) Marcel Proust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust
(1871-1922; a French novelist, critic and essayist)

The French (Hungarina also) first name Marcel is derived from Latin Marcellus, a diminutive of Marcus (from the last comes Mark).
(h) Note to a photo caption.

Torquato Tasso
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torquato_Tasso
(1544-1595; Italian poet)

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