Philological Essayist
@pessayist.bsky.social
The site I share translations and thoughts of philological interest on: https://philologicaltryouts.substack.com/. Enjoys dabbling in Literary Chinese, Semitic Studies, Sanskrit, Pāli, Polemical Texts, and other stuff. Trying to discover Albanian & Burmese
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天學問答 - Argumentative Text Against Catholicism by Korean Scholar An Chŏngbok 安鼎福 (from 1790 AD) - Part 9
Previous parts of the translation:
philologicaltryouts.substack.com
Dear Everyone, Part 9 of the ongoing translation of a late 18th Century text from Neo-Confucian Korea, arguing against Roman Catholicism, has been published. philologicaltryouts.substack.com/p/argumentat... Comments, likes, and share/reskeets all appreciated!
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Europe must have its own tech-infrastructure. It's too dangerous to be dependent on U.S. companies. We need to replace Amazon servers, Google search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, ChatGPT, Nvidia, What'sApp etc with European versions. Or we might just be destroyed from within by fascist propaganda.
December 7, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Europe must have its own tech-infrastructure. It's too dangerous to be dependent on U.S. companies. We need to replace Amazon servers, Google search, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, ChatGPT, Nvidia, What'sApp etc with European versions. Or we might just be destroyed from within by fascist propaganda.
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Every bond is a bond to sorrow,
To sorrow and despair,
Except for the bond to stufflings
Which removeth every care.
To sorrow and despair,
Except for the bond to stufflings
Which removeth every care.
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 12:43 AM
Every bond is a bond to sorrow,
To sorrow and despair,
Except for the bond to stufflings
Which removeth every care.
To sorrow and despair,
Except for the bond to stufflings
Which removeth every care.
Reposted by Philological Essayist
The excitement (insanity?) of finding two stamps with the same flaw and thus proving the flaw is recurrent.
#philately #Albania
#philately #Albania
December 6, 2025 at 3:01 AM
The excitement (insanity?) of finding two stamps with the same flaw and thus proving the flaw is recurrent.
#philately #Albania
#philately #Albania
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Many Legalist scholars are saying this!
December 5, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Many Legalist scholars are saying this!
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Did Leopold II write this speech?
December 5, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Did Leopold II write this speech?
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Constantly reminded that for hundreds of years after the South American silver mines had essentially run out there continued to be vast resources pumped into the idea that previous regimes hadn’t been extractive enough rather than the idea that the value simply didn’t exist.
“we estimate employment-weighted share of Americans using AI at work has fallen by a percentage point & now sits at 11%. Adoption has fallen sharply at the largest businesses, those employing +250 people. 3 yrs into the genAI wave, demand looks surprisingly flimsy” www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Investors expect AI use to soar. That’s not happening
Recent surveys point to flatlining business adoption
www.economist.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Constantly reminded that for hundreds of years after the South American silver mines had essentially run out there continued to be vast resources pumped into the idea that previous regimes hadn’t been extractive enough rather than the idea that the value simply didn’t exist.
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Every new thing I hear about Hegseth confirms my suspicion that he wandered directly out of being a minor goon-boss in a Paul Verhoven movie.
He's the kind of guy who thinks Starship Troopers was unironic.
He's the kind of guy who's never seen Robocop, but has definitely shouted "BITCHES LEAVE."
He's the kind of guy who thinks Starship Troopers was unironic.
He's the kind of guy who's never seen Robocop, but has definitely shouted "BITCHES LEAVE."
1. This is not how anyone talks to an O-10.
2. This is certainly not how a 40 year-old ex-O-4 talks to an O-10.
3. This is the most dumbshit company grade officer crap imaginable. No competent commander tells a senior officer not to ask questions.
4. He may as well have called Holsey "boy."
2. This is certainly not how a 40 year-old ex-O-4 talks to an O-10.
3. This is the most dumbshit company grade officer crap imaginable. No competent commander tells a senior officer not to ask questions.
4. He may as well have called Holsey "boy."
December 4, 2025 at 8:40 AM
Every new thing I hear about Hegseth confirms my suspicion that he wandered directly out of being a minor goon-boss in a Paul Verhoven movie.
He's the kind of guy who thinks Starship Troopers was unironic.
He's the kind of guy who's never seen Robocop, but has definitely shouted "BITCHES LEAVE."
He's the kind of guy who thinks Starship Troopers was unironic.
He's the kind of guy who's never seen Robocop, but has definitely shouted "BITCHES LEAVE."
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Not the most important point but the “young Jewish Americans” comment is only slightly less offensive that Trump calling Schumer a bad Jew
Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.”
December 4, 2025 at 2:19 AM
Not the most important point but the “young Jewish Americans” comment is only slightly less offensive that Trump calling Schumer a bad Jew
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"These conversations with lexicographers are ablaze with passion for the history and culture surrounding the creation of dictionaries for more than a score of languages."
Out Now!
Conversations on Dictionaries, edited by Ilan Stavans
cup.org/4hYqK0t
#Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦 #Lexicography
Out Now!
Conversations on Dictionaries, edited by Ilan Stavans
cup.org/4hYqK0t
#Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦 #Lexicography
A global collection of conversations revealing how dictionaries have evolved and influenced language across twenty different traditions.
Conversations on Dictionaries edited by Ilan Stavans
Pre-Order today!
#Linguistics #LangSky 📚
https://cup.org/4mGjF6m
Conversations on Dictionaries edited by Ilan Stavans
Pre-Order today!
#Linguistics #LangSky 📚
https://cup.org/4mGjF6m
November 13, 2025 at 5:37 PM
"These conversations with lexicographers are ablaze with passion for the history and culture surrounding the creation of dictionaries for more than a score of languages."
Out Now!
Conversations on Dictionaries, edited by Ilan Stavans
cup.org/4hYqK0t
#Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦 #Lexicography
Out Now!
Conversations on Dictionaries, edited by Ilan Stavans
cup.org/4hYqK0t
#Linguistics #LangSky 🐦🐦 #Lexicography
Reposted by Philological Essayist
A classic
#Catchoftheday
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik nebst ausgewählten Inschriften" by Mark Lidzbarski
[Weimar: Felber, 1898]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/98377
#westsemiticlanguages #inscription
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Handbuch der nordsemitischen Epigraphik nebst ausgewählten Inschriften" by Mark Lidzbarski
[Weimar: Felber, 1898]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/98377
#westsemiticlanguages #inscription
December 1, 2025 at 2:21 PM
A classic
Reposted by Philological Essayist
As a little treat for you, here's an #ArabicBible Advent calendar 🧵. Every day I'll post a verse from the Christmas story from one of the oldest Arabic Gospel lectionaries, Sinai ar. 71, dated 897 CE (and a few other texts in between).
December 1, 2025 at 9:49 AM
As a little treat for you, here's an #ArabicBible Advent calendar 🧵. Every day I'll post a verse from the Christmas story from one of the oldest Arabic Gospel lectionaries, Sinai ar. 71, dated 897 CE (and a few other texts in between).
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Not only is this 100% correct, but because of the ultra-high net worth individuals we’re dealing w/what you have is a gigantic insider threat & counterintelligence problem. 1/
one reason "great power competition" is a bad description of the emerging order is that an interlinked global kleptocracy does not care about national interests or rivalries
Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 30, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Not only is this 100% correct, but because of the ultra-high net worth individuals we’re dealing w/what you have is a gigantic insider threat & counterintelligence problem. 1/
Reposted by Philological Essayist
So many people who are otherwise so committed to good things are on Substack, which is very nice to bad people, ideas, and lies. My own newsletter was launched on Ghost because the bad news about Substack isn't new.
I am once again telling everyone to get the fuck off Substack leavesubstack.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:35 PM
So many people who are otherwise so committed to good things are on Substack, which is very nice to bad people, ideas, and lies. My own newsletter was launched on Ghost because the bad news about Substack isn't new.
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Meanwhile
Professor Hannah Cloke told us,“We should be focusing on water reuse, using less water in the first place, separating drinking water from those recycled waters that we could use, using nature-based solutions + thinking about the way that we’re building".
4/6
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
4/6
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Meanwhile
Reposted by Philological Essayist
one reason "great power competition" is a bad description of the emerging order is that an interlinked global kleptocracy does not care about national interests or rivalries
Extraordinary WSJ reporting today that unveils the extent to which Trump, Witkoff, Kushner and US business executives are salivating over business deals with Russia while Putin’s forces kidnap Ukranian children and bomb civilians in their apartments.
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
🎁 www.wsj.com/world/russia...
November 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
one reason "great power competition" is a bad description of the emerging order is that an interlinked global kleptocracy does not care about national interests or rivalries
Reposted by Philological Essayist
My blog is always 100 percent written by a human! And free! That's why you should subscribe to it (certainly not because of the writing or content quality)!
November 28, 2025 at 3:38 AM
My blog is always 100 percent written by a human! And free! That's why you should subscribe to it (certainly not because of the writing or content quality)!
Reposted by Philological Essayist
these are fabulously joyful: do read them and cheer yourself up: "Hatless and barefoot under my parasol on a summer day, I watch a burly fellow working a well-pump and singing Suzhou folk songs. The water comes up in a sudden burst, like a spill of silver coins or a gust of snow"
In 1657, Jin Shengtan 金聖嘆 broke off from his commentary on 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' to list "33 Nice Things" 不亦快哉三十三則.
It's one of the most likable things I know of in any language. I translated it to cheer myself up a while ago, if anyone could use it. www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
It's one of the most likable things I know of in any language. I translated it to cheer myself up a while ago, if anyone could use it. www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good
November 8, 2024 at 8:38 AM
these are fabulously joyful: do read them and cheer yourself up: "Hatless and barefoot under my parasol on a summer day, I watch a burly fellow working a well-pump and singing Suzhou folk songs. The water comes up in a sudden burst, like a spill of silver coins or a gust of snow"
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Dutch "gebeuren" 'happen' is cognate to German "gebühren" 'sb/sth deserves/is due sth'.
The unprefixed verb "beuren" 'to lift' is still used in Dutch.
#LessObviousDutchGermanCognates
The unprefixed verb "beuren" 'to lift' is still used in Dutch.
#LessObviousDutchGermanCognates
November 27, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Dutch "gebeuren" 'happen' is cognate to German "gebühren" 'sb/sth deserves/is due sth'.
The unprefixed verb "beuren" 'to lift' is still used in Dutch.
#LessObviousDutchGermanCognates
The unprefixed verb "beuren" 'to lift' is still used in Dutch.
#LessObviousDutchGermanCognates
Reposted by Philological Essayist
I like that French has a whole wikipedia page on fancy synonyms for various languages
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d...
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d...
November 27, 2025 at 1:59 AM
I like that French has a whole wikipedia page on fancy synonyms for various languages
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d...
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_d...
Reposted by Philological Essayist
My article "Obiceiurile de căsătorie ale țăranilor români" (1837): O lucrare necunoscută a lui Mihail Kogălniceanu și soarta ei ["The Marriage Customs of the Romanian Peasants": An unknown work by Mihail Kogălniceanu and its fate] now #OpenAccess (in RO, w EN+DE abstracts)
aiix.ro/tomul-lxii-2...
aiix.ro/tomul-lxii-2...
Tomul LXII, 2025 - Anuarul Institutului de Istorie „A. D. Xenopol”
STUDII ŞI ARTICOLE MEDIAEVALIA » SUZANA SIMON, ALEXANDRU SIMON, Doamna Clara și Papa Inocențiu al VI-lea în vara anului 1360: înainte și după apariția Mitropoliei …
aiix.ro
November 25, 2025 at 10:57 AM
My article "Obiceiurile de căsătorie ale țăranilor români" (1837): O lucrare necunoscută a lui Mihail Kogălniceanu și soarta ei ["The Marriage Customs of the Romanian Peasants": An unknown work by Mihail Kogălniceanu and its fate] now #OpenAccess (in RO, w EN+DE abstracts)
aiix.ro/tomul-lxii-2...
aiix.ro/tomul-lxii-2...
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Ziekelijke oorlogszucht.
November 26, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Ziekelijke oorlogszucht.
Reposted by Philological Essayist
#Catchoftheday
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Disputatio pro religione Mohammedanorum adversus Christianos" by Abu'l-Fadhl as- Saʿūdī
[Lugduni Batavorum: Brill, 1877-1890]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/97683
#islam #christianity #conflict
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Disputatio pro religione Mohammedanorum adversus Christianos" by Abu'l-Fadhl as- Saʿūdī
[Lugduni Batavorum: Brill, 1877-1890]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/97683
#islam #christianity #conflict
November 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
#Catchoftheday
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Disputatio pro religione Mohammedanorum adversus Christianos" by Abu'l-Fadhl as- Saʿūdī
[Lugduni Batavorum: Brill, 1877-1890]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/97683
#islam #christianity #conflict
#OpenAccess on
#MENAdoc:
"Disputatio pro religione Mohammedanorum adversus Christianos" by Abu'l-Fadhl as- Saʿūdī
[Lugduni Batavorum: Brill, 1877-1890]
dx.doi.org/10.25673/97683
#islam #christianity #conflict
Reposted by Philological Essayist
Today I stumbled upon an open-access article in the new edited volume "Connected Philology" by someone who has the exact same name as me and also works at the Université de Lausanne. Very suspicious 👀
#shamelessselfpromotion
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
#shamelessselfpromotion
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Connected Philology
Even though the similarities of philological methods and traditions across various cultures have been the subject of scholarly research, the reasons for these occurrences usually remain obscure. The p...
www.degruyterbrill.com
November 25, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Today I stumbled upon an open-access article in the new edited volume "Connected Philology" by someone who has the exact same name as me and also works at the Université de Lausanne. Very suspicious 👀
#shamelessselfpromotion
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
#shamelessselfpromotion
www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
Reposted by Philological Essayist
hey #linguistics peeps! have you ever taken (or taught) a syntax class? we want to hear your opinions (good or bad) about it! We're doing focus group interviews (on zoom, or in person at select conferences) - if you're at all interested, you can fill out our interest form: forms.gle/nhBtz78hQXNA...
SynTeach Focus Group Interest Form
SynTeach is a project researching peoples' experiences teaching and learning syntax in higher education. We have conducted surveys of the field including syntax instructors and students, and we are pl...
forms.gle
November 24, 2025 at 5:05 PM
hey #linguistics peeps! have you ever taken (or taught) a syntax class? we want to hear your opinions (good or bad) about it! We're doing focus group interviews (on zoom, or in person at select conferences) - if you're at all interested, you can fill out our interest form: forms.gle/nhBtz78hQXNA...
Reposted by Philological Essayist
A bilingual Dano-Norwegian/northern Sámi catechism from 1728, afaik the first printed book in Northern Sámi
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
A bilingual Dano-Norwegian/northern Sámi catechism from 1728, afaik the first printed book in Northern Sámi