{"id":2547,"date":"2013-07-13T01:42:21","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2547"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:42:21","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:42:21","slug":"52-remarks-on-bengali-usage-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/27-letters-on-poetry-and-art\/52-remarks-on-bengali-usage-vol-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","title":{"rendered":"-52_Remarks on Bengali Usage.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n Remarks on Bengali Usage<\/font> <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n Laws and Caprices of Usage<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\nIt is not very clear why the dictum about
\n should not apply
\nto
\n and
\n\t. My own feeling is against this extra syllable in such words
\n\t(
\nseems to me different, because িদক্ <\/span>is a separate word in Bengali), but neither feeling nor logic can
\nstand against usage. A language is like an absolute queen; you have to obey her laws, reasonable or unreasonable, and not only
\nher laws, but her caprices ―so long as they last, ―unless you are one of her acknowledged favourites and then you can make
\nhay of her laws and (sometimes) defy even her caprices provided you are quite sure of the favour. In this case, Tagore perhaps feels
\nthe absoluteness of some usage with regard to these particular words? But one can always break through law and usage and
\neven pass over the judgment of an “arbiter of elegances”, ―at one’s own risk. <\/p>\n

\n 26 January 1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n *<\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

Funny thing
\n―this word-coinage! Sometimes people accept it, sometimes they reject. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAfter all when one coins a new word, one has to take the chance. If the word is properly formed and not ugly or unintelligible, it
\nseems to me all right to venture. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it is not accepted it will remain a blot in the poem. Tagore
\ncoined the word
\n\t\t\t but he laments that people have not
\naccepted it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhy a blot? There are many words in Greek poetry which occur
\nonly once in the whole literature, but that is not considered a defect in the poem. It is called a
\nhapax legomenon<\/i>, “a once
\n   <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-656<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n spoken word" and that’s all.
\n\t for instance is a fine word and can adorn, not blot Tagore’s poetry even if no one else uses it. I think Shakespeare has many words coined by him or at least
\nsome that do not occur elsewhere. <\/p>\n

\n 16 January 1937
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

\n A Language Grows and Is Not Made <\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n  <\/p>\n

Will it be a narrowness on the part of the Calcutta University if
\nit does not include foreign words for the enrichment of Bengali literature?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is a matter of opinion and tastes differ. But I don’t see how a University can change the language. A language grows and
\nis not made, except in so far as it is the great poets and prose writers who make it. <\/p>\n

15 July 1937  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tPage-657<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remarks on Bengali Usage   Laws and Caprices of Usage   It is not very clear why the dictum about should not apply to and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-27-letters-on-poetry-and-art","wpcat-51-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}