Originality

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, in her The Printing press as an agent of change: communications and cultural transformations in early modern Europe (Cambridge: 1979), pointed out for me a fascinating phenomenon. The context is a discussion of the Renaissance attitude toward the Greek and Latin classics as reliable based on their "originality," i.e. their closeness to the origins of wisdom. On page 192 she explains the "puzzlement" (191) of later scholars towards this attitude.

"Its old meaning was 'closest to divine inspiriation; closest to the fount, to the well-spring, to the original, or to the source." This inspired the slogan, 'To the sources,' Ad fontes! The modern meaning is quite different. As every art-critic knows, to be original is to break with precedent, to depart from tradition. A given artist, scholar or scientist is being original when he does not go back to an earlier work but strikes out in some new direction on his own."

She does not give her source for these definitions, but the same idea can be found in the OED: The word "original" means (OED 1a), "That is the origin or source of something; from which something springs, proceeds, or is derived; primary" and it also means, (OED 5a) "Created, composed, or done by a person directly; produced first-hand; not imitated or copied from another."

Her interesting observation perhaps can give us an insight into the mind of Renaissance scholars, who gave so much credence to things buried (literally, in some cases) for hundreds of years.

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Petrarch, in his Coronation Oration of April 8, 1341, delivered what Ernest Wilkins called "the first manifesto of the Renaissance." Wilkens published an English translation in Studies in the Life and Works of Petrarch (Cambridge, Mass: Mediaeval Acadamy of America, 1955) which enriched my view of Petrarch as both a scholar and a poet. On page 306 of Wilkins' edition, he translates Petrarch's Latin, "while there are some who think it shameful to follow in the footsteps of others, there are far more who fear to essay a hard road unless they have a sure guide." Petrarch goes on to explain how he hopes to be just that sort of guide for others, which of course he did.