[lit-ideas] "Stupid machine!"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 11:37:00 EDT
M. Chase wrote:
>Stupid machine!
M. Geary asked for proof.
>Show me a stupid machine.
Implicaturing that Chase was overreacting.
Interestingly, I'd say the meaning "Stupid machine!" depends, on occasion,
on the meaning of 'stupid' and 'machine' -- the first cite in English for
'stupid' is 1541; the first cite for 'machine' is 1845. I wonder what the first
cite is for Chase's collocation, 'stupid machine' -- Descartes, possibly.
Cheers,
JL
GearyL
>Machines are never stupid.
'stupid' ad. L. stupidus, f. <NOBR>s to be stunned or benumbed. Cf. F.
stupide (Rabelais), Sp., Pg. estúpido, It. stupido. Wanting in or slow of
mental
perception; lacking ordinary activity of mind; slow-witted, dull. 1541 _R.
COPLAND_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-c3.html#r-copland)
Galyen's Terap. 2Biijb,
For the first speak over lightly and
too imprudently,..and the other are
altogether stupid, sturdy, and litigious.
'machine' [< Middle French, French machine < classical Latin <NOBR>m (cf.
macigno n.) < ancient Greek (Doric) mackana (cf. ancient Greek (Attic)
mechane: see mechanic a. *AND NOUN* [emphasis mine -- JLS, cf. Geary 'The
Mechanic
As Noun', Papers in the Parts of Speech, vol. 2 -- section 4] and n.), prob.
related to mekhos â??means, expedient, remedyâ??, perh. ult. < the
Indo-European
base of 'may' v.1 Cf. Spanish máquina (1444), Italian macchina (15th cent.);
German Maschine, Dutch machine, Swedish maskin are all 17th-cent. borrowings
from French. The sense â??a fabric or structure, esp. the fabric of the
universeâ?? is present in classical Latin (but not in ancient Greek), and is
the
first one attested in Middle French (1377). The sense â??stratagemâ?? is not
present
in classical Latin and is only attested in French from 1639; it is sparingly
attested in post-classical Latin in British sources from Aldhelm to William
of Malmesbury (and similarly machinamentum 'machinament' n. down to the end
of the 13th cent.), but is in English prob. independently < machine, v. 1: cf.
ancient Greek mekanai, â??shifts, devices, wilesâ??, and the Italian sense
â??a
conspiracie, a stratagem, a contriuingâ?? recorded by Florio (1598). The
application to the living human and animal body is a development of sense 1a;
cf.
the similar sense in French â??the combination of organs of a living bodyâ??
first
attested in Descartes (1637). The sense â??vehicleâ?? (without the connotation
â??
mechanismâ??) appears to be a distinctively English development of sense 1a:
in French (from 1817 denoting a bicycle), Dutch, and German, such use is
restricted to metonymic use for a vehicle with a â??mechanismâ?? or
â??engineâ?? (as a
bicycle, automobile, locomotive, aeroplane, etc.). Sense 6, â??apparatus,
appliance, instrumentâ??, is one of the earliest senses in ancient Greek,
common in
classical Latin and post-classical Latin, and attested from 1559 in Middle
French and French.
The sense â??penisâ??, developed from it, is also attested in French, in 1748
and 1750. The sense â??military engineâ?? is in ancient Greek from Thucydides
onwards, and is common in classical Latin and post-classical Latin; it is
first
attested in French in 1671. The sense â??a large work (of art)â?? is attested
in
French from 1566, and the theatrical use (sense 4a) from 1650.
[The sense of 'car' is Italian, only, -- 'che bella machina']
A number of passages imply by their metre that the word could be stressed on
the first syllable in earlier modern English (e.g. quot. 1599 at sense 1a:
the latest evidence below is quot. 1702 at sense 1c). The earliest evidence
for stress on the second syllable is quot. 1681 at sense 4.]
A material or immaterial structure, esp. the fabric of the world or of the
universe; a construction or edifice. Now rare.
First cite:
1545 in J. Schäfer Early Mod. Eng. Lexicogr. (1989) II. s.v.,
The hole machyne of this world is divided in .2. parte. That is to saye, in
the celestiall and into the elementall regions.
1545 in J. Schäfer Early Mod. Eng. Lexicogr. (1989) II. s.v.,
Machine, hath many significacions, but here it is taken for the worke of the
hole worlde.
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