# Centi-Folium Stultorum



## Erq

Hello all!
I don't know if there is a special room for German-English translation! So please let me know if there is one.

There is a book called _Centi_-_Folium Stultorum _by Abraham a Sancta Clara. How do you translate "_Centi_-_Folium Stultorum"_ in English?

Thanks


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## Demiurg

"Centi-Folium Stultorum" (_hundred pages of fools_?) looks like Latin to me, not Geman.


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## Snodv

Demiurg said:


> "Centi-Folium Stultorum" (_hundred pages of fools_?) looks like Latin to me, not Geman.


Hmm.  A hundred pages (or leaves) in Latin would be _centum folia_.   
_Folium_ here is mysteriously singular.  This looks like a compound Latinate word, the hundred-leaf, whatever that may be.  Or perhaps a hundred-page book?


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## Snodv

Snodv said:


> Hmm.  A hundred pages (or leaves) in Latin would be _centum folia_.
> _Folium_ here is mysteriously singular.  This looks like a compound Latinate word, the hundred-leaf, whatever that may be.  Or perhaps a hundred-page book?


Sorry, a little more research reveals that the centifolium (hundred-leaf) is a variety of lily.  Perhaps centi-folium stultorum is a plant that looks like that lily but isn't, just as _fools' gold_ resembles, but is not, gold.  I wonder what sort of book Abraham a Sancta Clara wrote.  More looking up is in order.


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## Snodv

Snodv said:


> Sorry, a little more research reveals that the centifolium (hundred-leaf) is a variety of lily.  Perhaps centi-folium stultorum is a plant that looks like that lily but isn't, just as _fools' gold_ resembles, but is not, gold.  I wonder what sort of book Abraham a Sancta Clara wrote.  More looking up is in order.


Alas for my hypothesis, a commentary on Abraham's life and works translates the phrase as "A hundred excellent fools [in Quarto]."


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## Erq

Snodv said:


> Alas for my hypothesis, a commentary on Abraham's life and works translates the phrase as "A hundred excellent fools [in Quarto]."


Hello,
I really appreciate the search you've done for me. Thank you!
Would you tell me where did you find the translation?


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## Sobakus

The source of Snodv's translation is this. This translation is wrong - "A hundred excellent fools in Quarto" means there are 100 fools in the book. _Centifolium stultōrum_ on the other hand means "a hundred-pager of fools" - there's 100 pages in the book, and the number of fools is unspecified. That translation can only be incidentally correct if every fool takes up exactly one page, and even then you have to exclude the preface etc. Demiurg's initial reply is on point.


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## Snodv

About the very questionable translation in a commentary, I just looked up "Abraham a Sancta Clara" online.


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## Sobakus

Actually not even my translation is correct. First of all _folium_ is a leaf, not a page; but while a modern reader would be tempted to conclude that this makes it 200 pages, carefully considering that 'in Quarto' in the translation should prompt them to rethink. I was unfamiliar with early binding techniques so I didn't pay enough attention to that word - here's an explanatory article with illustrations, here's a video demonstration. It's reasonable to suppose that the translator had a good reason for adding 'in Quarto' to the title; if factually correct, this would put the number of pages in the book at 800 (4x2 per leaf). Speculatively, it's conceivable that in that format every leaf was a self-contained pamphlet devoted to exactly one 'fool', which would justify the translation.


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