| Document Name: | Uncleftish Beholding |
| Date Presented: | 1989 |
| Subject: | Atomic theory |
| Purpose: | Linguistic purism in English |
"Uncleftish Beholding" (1989) is a short text by Poul Anderson, included in his anthology "All One Universe".[1] It is designed to illustrate what English might look like without its large number of words derived from languages such as French, Greek, and Latin,[2] especially with regard to the proportion of scientific words with origins in those languages.
Written as a demonstration of linguistic purism in English, the work explains atomic theory using Germanic words almost exclusively and coining new words when necessary;[3] many of these new words have cognates in modern German, an important scientific language in its own right. The title phrase uncleftish beholding calques "atomic theory."[4]
To illustrate, the text begins:[5]
It goes on to define firststuffs (chemical elements), such as waterstuff (hydrogen), sourstuff (oxygen), and ymirstuff (uranium), as well as bulkbits (molecules), bindings (compounds), and several other terms important to uncleftish worldken (atomic science).[6] German: Wasserstoff and German: Sauerstoff are the modern German words for hydrogen and oxygen, and in Dutch the modern equivalents are Dutch; Flemish: waterstof and Dutch; Flemish: zuurstof.[7] Sunstuff refers to helium, which derives from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ἥλιος, the Ancient Greek word for 'sun'. Ymirstuff references Ymir, a giant in Norse mythology similar to Uranus in Greek mythology.
| --plainrowheaders-->" | + Comparison of terms in "Uncleftish Beholding" and English | Term in "Uncleftish Beholding" | Term in English | Origin In English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uncleft | atom | from Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: atomos 'uncut, unhewn; indivisible', from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: a- 'not' + Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: tomos 'a cutting',[8] | ||
| uncleftish | atomic | as above | ||
| beholding | theory | from Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: theōria 'contemplation, speculation; a looking at, viewing; a sight, show, spectacle, things looked at', from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: theōrein 'to consider, speculate, look at', from Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: theōros 'spectator', | ||
| worldken | science | from Latin Latin: scientia 'knowledge'.[9] World + ken means "knowledge of the world". | ||
| stuff firststuff | matter element | from Latin Latin: materia 'substance from which something is made',[10] from Latin Latin: elementum 'rudiment, first principle, matter in its most basic form'[11] | ||
| forward bernstonish lading | positive electric charge | from Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: ḗlektron 'amber',[12] in German German: bernstein ('burn-stone') from Late Latin Latin: carricare 'to load a wagon or cart'[13] | ||
| backward bernstonish lading | negative electric charge | |||
| forwardladen | positively charged | |||
| backwardladen | negatively charged | |||
| waterstuff | hydrogen | from Greek for 'water'.[14] Its cognate in German is Wasserstoff and in Swedish väte. | ||
| sunstuff | helium | from Greek for 'sun' | ||
| stonestuff | lithium | from Greek for 'stone' | ||
| coalstuff | carbon | from Latin for 'coal'. Its cognate in German is Kohlenstoff. | ||
| chokestuff | nitrogen | Name from niter, from the Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: νιτρων from Ancient Egyptian, related to the Hebrew, for salt-derived ashes (their interrelationship is not clear).Chokestuff is inspired by chokedamp, a term for oxygenless air found in mines and other confined spaces. Chokedamp is composed mostly of nitrogen. The cognate in German is Stickstoff and in Swedish kväve, both bearing the meaning "choke". | ||
| sourstuff | oxygen | from Greek for 'sharp' or 'sour' Its German cognate is Sauerstoff and Swedish syre. | ||
| glasswortstuff | sodium | Glasswort was used as a source of soda for glassmaking | ||
| flintstuff | silicon | from Latin for 'flint' | ||
| potashstuff | potassium | Latinised form of potash[15] | ||
| ymirstuff | uranium | from Uranus (Norse equivalent is Ymir) | ||
| aegirstuff | neptunium | from Neptune (Norse equivalent is Ægir) | ||
| helstuff | plutonium | from Pluto (Norse equivalent is Hel) | ||
| roundaround board of the firststuffs | periodic table of elements | from Latin Latin: periodus (“complete sentence, period, circuit”), from Ancient Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: períodos (“cycle, period of time”) | ||
| farer | ion | from Greek neuter present participle of ienai, meaning "to go". | ||
| samestead | isotope | Greek roots isos (ἴσος "equal") and topos (τόπος "place"), meaning "the same place" |
The vocabulary used in "Uncleftish Beholding" does not completely derive from Anglo-Saxon. Around, from Old French French, Old (842-ca.1400);: reond (Modern French French: rond), completely displaced Old English English, Old (ca.450-1100);: ymbe (modern English English: umbe (now obsolete), cognate to German German: um and Latin ) and left no "native" English word for this concept. The text also contains the French-derived words rest, ordinary and sort.
The text gained increased exposure and popularity after being circulated around the Internet,[16] and has served as inspiration for some inventors of Germanic English conlangs. Douglas Hofstadter, in discussing the piece in his book , jocularly refers to the use of only Germanic roots for scientific pieces as "Ander-Saxon."