Thomas Urquhart

Sir Thomas Urquhart (or Urchard, 1611 - c.1660) was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais.

Works

; Epigrams, Divine and Moral (1641) : Collections of epigrams were fashionable in the mid seventeenth century, but Urquhart's contribution to the genre has not been highly regarded. Most critics have concluded that the sentiments are largely banal and the versification inept.

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; Trissotetras (1645) : Trissotetras treats plane and spherical trigonometry using Napier's logarithms and a new nomenclature designed to facilitate memorization. Urquhart's nomenclature resembles the names medieval schoolmen gave the various forms of syllogism, in which the construction of the name gives information about the thing being named. (Urquhart would make use of the same idea in his universal language.) The resulting effect is, however, bizarre, and the work is impenetrable without the investment of considerable time to learn Urquhart's system. Although Urquhart was a formidable mathematician and Trissotetras mathematically sound, his approach has never been adopted and his book is a dead end in the history of mathematics.

Related Topics:
Trigonometry - Napier - Logarithm - Syllogism

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; Pantochronachanon (1652) : Subtitled "A peculiar promptuary of time," this work is a genealogy of the Urquhart family. In it, Urquhart manages to name each of his ancestors in an unbroken hereditary line from Adam and Eve all the way up to himself through 153 generations. This work has been the subject of ridicule since the time of its first publication, though it was likely an elaborate joke.

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; The Jewel (Ekskybalauron) (1652) : A miscellaneous work. It contains a detailed exposition of Urquhart's universal language, but most of the book is, as the title page says, "a vindication of the honor of Scotland." It includes Urquhart's fictionalized life of the Scottish hero James Crichton (1560-82, "The Admirable Crichton"), Urquhart's most celebrated work outside of his Rabelais.

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; Logopandecteision (1653) : This book contains another prospectus for Urquhart's universal language. Although Urquhart does not give a vocabulary, he explains that his system would be based on a scheme in which the construction of words would reflect their meanings. Logopandecteision also contains a polemic against Urquhart's creditors.

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; The Works of Rabelais (Books I and II, 1653; Book III, 1693) : This is the work for which Urquhart is best known. It is considered one of the best translations of any work into English. There is a perfect match of temperament between author and translator. Urquhart's learning, pedantry and word-mad exuberance proved to be ideal for Rabelais's work. It is a somewhat free translation, but it never departs from the spirit of Rabelais. The third book was edited and completed by Peter Anthony Motteux and published after Urquhart's death.

Related Topics:
Rabelais - Peter Anthony Motteux

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