Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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1 - 30
31 - 60
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91 - 120
121 - 150
151 - 180
181 - 210
211 - 240
241 - 270
271 - 300
301 - 330
331 - 360
361 - 390
391 - 420
421 - 450
451 - 480
481 - 510
511 - 540
541 - 570
571 - 600
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TRANSLATORS' PREFACE.
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<
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>There are three objectives in translation of works
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of this character: to give a faithful, literal trans
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lation of the author's statements; to give these
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in a manner which will interest the reader; and to
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preserve, so far as is possible, the style of the
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original text. </
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<
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>The task has been doubly difficult
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in this work because, in using Latin, the author
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availed himself of a medium which had ceased to
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expand a thousand years before his subject had in
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many particulars come into being; in consequence he was in difficulties
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with a large number of ideas for which there were no corresponding
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words in the vocabulary at his command, and instead of adopting into the
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text his native German terms, he coined several hundred Latin expressions
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to answer his needs. </
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<
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>It is upon this rock that most former attempts at
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translation have been wrecked. </
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<
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>Except for a very small number, we
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believe we have been able to discover the intended meaning of such
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expressions from a study of the context, assisted by a very incomplete
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glossary prepared by the author himself, and by an exhaustive investigation
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into the literature of these subjects during the sixteenth and seventeenth
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centuries. </
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<
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>That discovery in this particular has been only gradual and
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obtained after much labour, may be indicated by the fact that the entire
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text has been re-typewritten three times since the original, and some
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parts more often; and further, that the printer's proof has been thrice revised.
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<
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>We have found some English equivalent, more or less satisfactory, for
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practically all such terms, except those of weights, the varieties of veins,
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and a few minerals. </
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<
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>In the matter of weights we have introduced the
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original Latin, because it is impossible to give true equivalents and avoid the
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fractions of reduction; and further, as explained in the Appendix on Weights it
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is impossible to say in many cases what scale the Author had in mind. </
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<
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>The
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English nomenclature to be adopted has given great difficulty, for various
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reasons; among them, that many methods and processes described have
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never been practised in English-speaking mining communities, and so had no
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representatives in our vocabulary, and we considered the introduction of
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German terms undesirable; other methods and processes have become
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obsolete and their descriptive terms with them, yet we wished to avoid
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the introduction of obsolete or unusual English; but of the greatest
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importance of all has been the necessity to avoid rigorously such modern
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technical terms as would imply a greater scientific understanding than the
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period possessed.</
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<
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>Agricola's Latin, while mostly free from mediæval corruption, is some
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what tainted with German construction. </
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<
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>Moreover some portions have not </
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