Sandra Mouton Jul 16, 2010:

- What I am wondering is: if the title is Oscillatorium, then, what is the rest (De Motum corporum)? Except the title of Newton's manuscript, of course, and he could hardly be called "minor".
On the other hand, Huygens wrote one "Horologium oscillatorium sive (=or) de motu pendularium" and another book titled "De motu corporum ex percussione", so maybe there is a mix of the two titles.
In the catalogue of the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève in Paris, I found a reference to a seventeenth century Demonstratio de motu corporum naturali (Thesis about the natural movement of bodies) by Giuseppe Balli.
And finally, I found a reference to a book called "De motu corporum nonnulla" by one Luca Antonio Porzio, early eighteenth century.
The mystery thickens...

Sandra Mouton Jul 16, 2010:

Aaargh! It was too good to be true... But, two things:
- If my (almost inexistent) Italian doesn't betray me, the author says this book is one of "minor works" (libri minori), so it could have slipped past the attention of Google.
- I didn't mean the actual order of the words in the title should be changed. I just rearranged the words to explain their meaning in English. So you would, theoretically, be looking for "Oscillatorium de motu corporum".
Which I googled, to no avail...
Grappa beckons more and more

Colin Ryan (X) (asker) Jul 16, 2010:

Thanks for that, Sandra!
But there aren't any books in Google-land called De motu corporum oscillatorium, and all the other books in the list exist in real life. There are books whose names begin with "De motu corporum", and there is at least one book called just "De motu corporum" (by Newton?) but that's it.

Sandra Mouton Jul 16, 2010:

I think I cracked it! I just had an epiphany, while rereading the source text you gave earlier (and without the help of any alcoholic beverage, Italian or otherwise). Could it be Oscillatorium de motu corporum -- weird order but no error in declension or case here: De (=about) motu (=movement, ablative, so proper case) oscillatorium (= of oscillating, plural genitive case, OK) corporum (=bodies, plural genitive case, OK again). Your author supplies "delle cose" (of the objects) believing it is missing, when in fact, it is here, just a little later in the title (corporum=of the bodies).

meirs Jul 15, 2010:

Ambulatorium I hope I am not throwing a monkey wrench in the cogwheels (of anyone's brain), but could it be in contrast with Ambulatorium - where people walk in all directions without an apparent purpose, whereas here things (cose) come and go in an orderly fashion ? Touches philosophical matters like the preservation of matter (before Albert discovered that energy too is in the game)

Colin Ryan (X) (asker) Jul 15, 2010:

No, it's not Eco. How embarrassing it would be, to have that comment hanging around some corner of the internet for all time, eh? :-)

I think you might have a point about the grappa, though...

Sandra Mouton Jul 15, 2010:

Delle cose, not a translation but a clarification "Delle cose" could be a clarification of the missing text, because Latin authorises an adjective in the neuter plural form alone instead of "adjective+things". Oscillatorium could be the plural genitive of an adjective that would be (not found in my dictionary but it makes sense) oscillatoris=oscillating. So the title would be "[of the (delle)] oscillating [objects (cose)]".

Except a proper Latin title would use de+ablative (can be translated by "about", like in De rerum natura "About the nature of things") and not genitive alone.

Or it is a made up form of the neuter singular of the same adjective, meaning "the oscillating thing", the pendulum, in the nominative form instead of the proper ablative and your author should go easy on grappa ;-) (OMG, I hope I didn't just say that Umberto Ecco was a poor latinist).

Colin Ryan (X) (asker) Jul 15, 2010:

Just had a brainwave... Could it be that the author actually meant De Rerum Natura? (i.e. the poem by Lucretia?) I always figured it was an error in the source text.

Colin Ryan (X) (asker) Jul 15, 2010:

Because... ...the original text to translate is "Oscillatorium (delle cose)" which I have to translate as "Oscillatorium (on things)". But I don't think that's what oscillatorium actually means.

meirs Jul 15, 2010:

Why translate Why should you translate the name of a book ? (that was most likely never translated per se)

Colin Ryan (X) (asker) Jul 15, 2010:

I don't think it's Huygens. Here is the full paragraph from the book (in Italian, but you can see the Latin titles of the books). I'm aware that there are misspellings.

Nello studio del professor XXX, sommerso da molti libri da cui spunta ancora Copernico con il De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium, due opere di Tycho Brahe Astronomiae instauratae e mechanica e Physica coelestis tradiva commentariis de motibus stellae Martis ex observationibus, l’opera di Keplero Prodromus dissertationum continens chysterium cosmographicus e libri minori come ___Oscillatorium___ (delle cose), De Motu corporum e quello iniziato solo con il titolo da lui medesimo: Prodromus dissertationum (sulla velocità eccessiva del tempo) ecco....

Rebecca Davis Jul 15, 2010:

Could it be a reference to Huygens' Pendulum Oscillatorium?