Language: It’s Nature, Development and Origin

Otto Jespersen

Published by George Allen & Unwin, London, 1954

About this Item

An excellent hardcover copy of the first edition/tenth printing (1954), with dustjacket: book and dustjacket very good plus - near fine. Red cloth-covered boards, gilt spine lettering, 8 5/8 x 5 3/4 inches, 448 pp., index. (K050)

Language is a perpetual orphic song,
Which rules with Daedal harmony a throng
Of thoughts and forms, which else senseless and shapeless were.

(This famous quote is from Act IV of Percy Bysshe Shelley's lyrical drama, Prometheus Unbound (lines 415-417), written in 1820. It highlights the power of language to transform chaotic thoughts and formless experiences into ordered, meaningful, and creative, "daedal" (skilful or intricate) beauty, functioning as a continuous,, magical, "Orphic" song.
Key Themes and Analysis:
Orphic Song: Refers to Orpheus, the mythical Greek bard whose music could charm nature, suggesting language possesses a magical,, divine, and creative power.
Daedal Harmony: Derived from Daedalus, the mythical architect, "daedal" means intricate, skilful, or cunningly designed, implying that language provides a complex, artistic structure to human thought.
Shaping Chaos: The quote posits that without language, thoughts are "senseless and shapeless," making language the crucial tool for giving form to ideas, similar to a creative force organizing chaos.
Context: In Prometheus Unbound, this line appears in a section celebrating the rejuvenation of the world, highlighting the transformative potential of expression and creative communication.).

Seller Inventory # 4940

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Language: It?s Nature, Development and Origin
• Publisher: George Allen & Unwin, London
• Publication Date: 1954
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 5th or later Printing
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Linguistics
  • Science