Geoffrey Chaucer over Geluid

[Bas Möllenkramer]

Geofrrey Chaucer was een van de eerste schrijvers die in de Engelse taal schreef. In 1384 schreef hij over geluid. Deze tekst is vertaald naar het moderne Engels. Het is boeiend om te lezen hoe men toen over geluid dacht. Geniet ervan!

'Now listen carefully, for I will prove this must be so by a thought experiment. Geoffrey, you well know that everything in the natural world has its own special home where it may best be kept, and that, when displaced it will try to move towards this place again; thus a stone, if raised in the hand to any height and let go of, will fall.

'So it is with fire and sound, or smoke and other light things, they always seek to rise; if they are free, light things will rise, heavy things will fall. Lo! this knowledge can be confirmed from every philosopher's mouth, and well you know that speech is sound, or else it could not be heard; now listen to what I teach you.

'Sound is nothing but broken air and every word that is spoken, loudly or softly, wisely or obscenely, is by nature just air. When men pluck harp strings, whether heavily or gently, with this stroke the air breaks as it does when men speak; so now you know what speech is. Now if you throw a stone into water, you know how one circle causes another, propagating outwards by the others' movement, multiplying until the disturbance reaches the surrounding banks. In the same way, every word, spoken loudly or softly, first moves the air nearby, which in turn moves air that is further away. So in the air, my dear brother, every parcel stirs up the next and bares speech upwards, magnifying and amplifying until it reaches the HOUSE OF FAME – take it in all seriousness or in fun.

'Each thing has its own natural place, and this place for sound must lie in the air. And since everything that is away from its natural location will try to return, it follows that every sound will move upwards to the HOUSE OF FAME, set between Earth, the sea and heaven. And it is to here that every spoken word ascends and is preserved. Have I not proved this simply?' And I answered, 'Yes.'
_________________
Möllenkramer Training
(w) www.mollenkramer.nl - (@) bas@mollenkramer.nl - (t) 0346-354802 / 0653-480736

[peterzoekzak]