Utica

English translation: Utica, Tunisia

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Utica
Selected answer:Utica, Tunisia
Entered by: Shirley Fan

13:05 Jan 27, 2010
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
English term or phrase: Utica
We can well imagine how Aristotle, the mountain-climber and horseman, at times grew heartily tired of the faultily faultless garden with its high wall and graveled walks and delicate shrubbery, and shouted aloud in protest, "The whole world of mountain, valley and plain should be our Academy, not this pent-up Utica that contracts our powers."

I don't think it refres to the Utica in NY.
Shirley Fan
Local time: 20:13
Utica, Tunisia
Explanation:
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa.

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Note added at 4 мин (2010-01-27 13:09:19 GMT)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utica,_Tunisia
Selected response from:

Alexander Ryshow
Belarus
Local time: 15:13
Grading comment
thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +7Utica, Tunisia
Alexander Ryshow
4 +1A city in the ancient world near Tyre, around 1000 BC
Jack Doughty
Summary of reference entries provided
source of the words "pent-up Utica ..."
Dylan Edwards

  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +7
utica
Utica, Tunisia


Explanation:
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa.

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Note added at 4 мин (2010-01-27 13:09:19 GMT)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utica,_Tunisia

Alexander Ryshow
Belarus
Local time: 15:13
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
thank you!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Catharine Cellier-Smart
0 min
  -> Thanks!

agree  Jenni Lukac (X): Utica, N.Y. was named after the original, I believe.
30 mins
  -> Thanks!

agree  Dylan Edwards
56 mins
  -> Thanks!

agree  Thayenga
58 mins
  -> Thanks!

agree  Rolf Keiser
3 hrs
  -> Thanks!

agree  Jack Dunwell: might there be a connection here with the Santorini/Thera eruption. I wonder. The Atlantis /Phoenician ex Crete exodus?
6 hrs
  -> Thanks!

agree  Paula Vaz-Carreiro
2 days 1 hr
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5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
utica
A city in the ancient world near Tyre, around 1000 BC


Explanation:
I don't know much about it, but since its inhabitants went off to help found Carthage about 900 BC, maybe they felt pent-up there.
Utica

Fully searchable and cross-referenced information about Utica from The Probert ... When the Persians under Xerxes invaded Greece the Carthaginians, ...
www.probertencyclopaedia.com/cgi-bin/res.pl?keyword=Utica.....

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:13
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 518

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Paula Vaz-Carreiro
2 days 1 hr
  -> Thank you.
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Reference comments


1 hr peer agreement (net): +2
Reference: source of the words "pent-up Utica ..."

Reference information:
The reference is to an ancient city called Utica, but I think the author is being humorous in his use of a well-known phrase, "pent-up Utica", which is a quote from a play called "Epilogue to Cato" by Samuel Sewall:

SEWALL, Samuel, jurist, born in Bishopstoke, England, 28 March, 1652; died in Boston, Massachusetts, 1 January, 1730.

In an "Epilogue to Cato," written in 1778, drawing a parallel between the characters and events of the Revolution and those of the play, occurs the couplet, "No pent-up Utica contracts your powers, But the whole boundless continent is yours," which Park Benjamin adopted as the motto of his paper, "The New World." His poems, which were mostly the productions of his youth, were collected into a volume (Portsmouth, 1801).—

http://www.famousamericans.net/samuelsewall/


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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-27 14:14:04 GMT)
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There is a connection between Utica in Carthage (now Tunisia) and Cato - Cato the Elder, I think (the Cato who was famous for saying "Carthage must be destroyed" at the end of every speech).

Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa.[1] Today, Utica no longer exists, and its remains are located not on the coast where it once lay, but further inland because deforestation and agriculture upriver led to massive erosion and the Medjerda River silted over its original mouth. [2]
"Utica" is from the Phoenician atiq (identical to modern Arabic عُتَيقة) meaning "old [town]," contrasting with the later colony "Carthage", meaning "new town."[3][4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utica,_Tunisia


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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-27 14:16:03 GMT)
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It's the connection with Cato that makes me think it's the Utica in Carthage.

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-27 14:22:20 GMT)
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On the other hand, it could be Cato the Younger, who is clearly associated with Utica:

Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95 BC–46 BC), known as Cato the Younger (Cato Minor) to distinguish him from his great-grandfather (Cato the Elder), ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_the_Younger

He was called "Cato Uticensis", i.e. "Cato of Utica".

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-27 14:25:09 GMT)
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If these words "pent-up Utica ..." come from a play written in 1778, the author, surely, is putting them into Aristotle's mouth for comic effect.

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-27 14:44:08 GMT)
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On the evidence I've seen, "pent-up Utica that contracts your powers" is a phrase that was widely quoted in the USA. I think it became the motto of a journal. Perhaps others can provide more information about this, and about the play.

Dylan Edwards
United Kingdom
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Stephanie Ezrol: Dylan, this certainly helps make the author's intention more clear
11 mins
  -> Thank you, Stephanie. It's what I've come to expect of this author!
agree  Paula Vaz-Carreiro
2 days 6 mins
  -> Thank you, Paula.
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