However much I love Uncle Ez coming on all po-faced etymological, I
cannot help pointing out that there is no such verb as "dichten" =
condensare in German, which has "verdichten" for the latter, whereas the
former is derived from the Latin "dictare", cognate with our "dictate".
Speaking of Poe-faced: E.A.P. also had a go back in the 19th C: >the
German terms Dichtkunst, the art of fiction, and Dichten, to feign,
which are used for "poetry" and "to make verses"< (review of
Longfellow). He confused it with lat."fingere", which again (relief!)
has nothing to do with vulgar German "fingern".
mj
Barry Alpert wrote:
>"dichten=condensare" - Ezra Pound
>
>Read his account of the process of composition of "In A Station of the
>Metro". Though that arch-imagist poem seems positively baroque compared
>with Aram Saroyan's on a rather similar subject:
>
>
>eyeye
>
>
>Barry Alpert
>
>PS. For further elaboration on related matters:
>
>
><http://ronsilliman.blogspot.com/2007/05/of-my-reluctance-in-1970-to-
>include-bob.html>
>
>
>
--
We went down to the sea
all the poets together
and gave ourselves up to the waters
in various positions of loss:
Nathaniel Tarn
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