Grice In Italy

Kramer is trying to explain his thoughts about etymology.

If Wittgenstein wanted to justify his view that language is not a picture of diddly, but a fame: he'd say: "Take a mediaeval city: surely a mess -- on a motorbike or whatever. Ditto, language. None of your garden-cities, here".

Kramer similarly waxes architectural:

"The way to build a cupola is

1. to put up a center pole,

2. connect quarter-circles to the pole,
then

3. take the pole away and

4. let the quarter circles hold
themselves up. So much for etymology.

---"

He means 'so little' but won't say it.

I comment on some frivolous (he says 'serendipitous') titbits (he'll say tiDbits) I learned from L. Speranza, architect.

duomo.; English dome. Latin, domus. House (fig. House of God, as in Brunelleschi's thing -- cfr. Life of Brian, "Domus Romani Ite -- Romans Go Home")

cupola. From wiki: "In 1419, the Arte della Lana held a competition to design a dome and cupola for the cathedral."
Italian "cupola" = English "cupola", i.e. dome-shaped roof.
Phrases: a falsa cupola; amici della cupola

dome. Traduzioni principali
English "dome" = Italian "cupola", "volta". Also "palazzo".
Forme composte
English "(cathedral) dome " = Italian "duomo"
"geodesic dome" = Italian "cupola geodetica"
"pleasure dome" = Italian "cupola del piacere"
Phrases: half-dome, light dome, onion dome, "straight from the top of my dome"

brunelleschi. (b. Firenze, 1377).

Kramer comments, in "The meaning of Grice, etymology apart":

"you father has surely explained to you that il duomo was the first large dome built without centering. It has no etymology."

----

We are considering here the 'cupola' thing.

Or the etymology of cupola. "the first large [one] built without centering". This contradicts his step-by-step on how to build a cupola. To wit:


1. Put up a centre pole.

[NOT if you are Filippo Brunelleschi. True, he was supported by the Medici].

2. Connect quarter-circles to the pole.

3. Take the pole away.

4. Tet the quarter circles hold themselves up.

(sort of how to pull oneself up by your own bootstraps kind of thing).

So how did "Brunelleschi" changed the etymology of 'cupola'?

Wiki has it:

"Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious and
unprecedented. The distinctive octagonal design
of the [cupola], resting on a drum and not
on the roof itself,
allowed for the entire [thing]
to be built without the need for
scaffolding from the ground,
the first large [thing]

ever to be built without centering
(vide Zucconi, Firenze, architectural guide).
But, because the [thing] rested on a
drum with no external buttresses
supporting it, there could be no
lateral thrusts at the base of [it]."

---

No etymology? Or a new one?

"Ghiberti, appointed coadjutator, mocked
[Brunelleschi's] plans and called
them unfeasible.["idiotico"]
Brunelleschi, deeply offended,
then pretended a sickness [measles, as it
happened (*) (He painted spots on his
skin).] and left for Rome."

----

Straight from the top of my dome, it stikes me that to define

a "cupola" as a 'dome-shaped roof' and seeing that 'dome' _is_ cupola, yields:

cupola: cupola-shaped roof.
Etymology irrelevant!?

----

Nay.

For

the etymology of 'cupola' enlightens you here:

from wiki, 'cupola':

"The word derives, via Italian, from the lower Latin "cupula" (classical Latin "cupella" from the Greek "kypellon") small cup (lat. "cupa") indicating a vault resembling an upside down cup."

--- So, 'cupola' is more descriptive than 'duomo' -- and of course they are not equivalent in that a cupola is built On a dome.

---.

But here the note in wiki is illuminating too and may be a source of confusion:

"In Italian, "cupola" simply _means_ 'dome', and the ornamental top element is called lanterna."

I don't think my father was meaning the mere lanterna. Which sounds like it has a good etymology of its own. It's the light house, or beaker, or whatever. Too ornamental to be true. The idea, in Brunelleschi's case, was to illuminate the thing. Not that it was a little light _house_ within the _house_ (domus). Pretty confusing this.

---

Etc.


So back to Kramer's simile:


"The way to build a cupola (Italian 'cupola' cfr. Italian 'lanterna') is 1. to put up a center pole, 2. connect quarter-circles to the pole, 3. take the pole away and
4. let the quarter circles hold themselves up. Unless you are Brunneleschi. Serendipitous. So much for null etymology. It has none".

It has too much, I'd say!

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