Hello to all!
A little question concerning vocabulary from Book XVI, Chapter 2 from William of Tyre's history.
Fulk, King of Jerusalem, has just died, being succeeded by his thirteen-year-old son, Baldwin III. William begins Book XVI by describing Baldwin's physical appearance and character. In this particular passage, he tells us that Baldwin was a very courteous man, except for his tendency to say frankly whatever was on his mind.
Urbanitatis quoque praecipuae, eo minus quod dicendi nimia utebatur libertate, ita ut quae in amicis erant notabilia et reprehensioni obnoxia, sublata differentia utrum placeret an laederet, eis in faciem publice jacularetur; quae tamen, quoniam non nocendi animo, sed quadam mentis hilaritate, vel potius levitate dicebat, non multum inde, etiam eorum quos sermone liberiore lacessebat, gratiam demerebatur; eoque amplius veniale videbatur quod in se versa vice contorta, aequanimiter dicta supportabat mordacia.
Now it's this bit, "Non multum . . . gratiam demerebatur", that puzzles me. The English translation I use renders it as "did not greatly lessen his popularity", and that certainly seems to fit the context. However, every dictionary I've looked at defines "demereo" as "earn thoroughly, merit, deserve well (of sb); oblige, please, win the favor of", which is the exact opposite of what the word seems to mean in this context.
It seems to me that, whatever about any other author, William is using the word in the sense of "to lose, lessen". We do after all have the word "demerit" in English. Or maybe I'm simply missing something here, which is of course always possible?
Any comments are welcome.
A little question concerning vocabulary from Book XVI, Chapter 2 from William of Tyre's history.
Fulk, King of Jerusalem, has just died, being succeeded by his thirteen-year-old son, Baldwin III. William begins Book XVI by describing Baldwin's physical appearance and character. In this particular passage, he tells us that Baldwin was a very courteous man, except for his tendency to say frankly whatever was on his mind.
Urbanitatis quoque praecipuae, eo minus quod dicendi nimia utebatur libertate, ita ut quae in amicis erant notabilia et reprehensioni obnoxia, sublata differentia utrum placeret an laederet, eis in faciem publice jacularetur; quae tamen, quoniam non nocendi animo, sed quadam mentis hilaritate, vel potius levitate dicebat, non multum inde, etiam eorum quos sermone liberiore lacessebat, gratiam demerebatur; eoque amplius veniale videbatur quod in se versa vice contorta, aequanimiter dicta supportabat mordacia.
Now it's this bit, "Non multum . . . gratiam demerebatur", that puzzles me. The English translation I use renders it as "did not greatly lessen his popularity", and that certainly seems to fit the context. However, every dictionary I've looked at defines "demereo" as "earn thoroughly, merit, deserve well (of sb); oblige, please, win the favor of", which is the exact opposite of what the word seems to mean in this context.
It seems to me that, whatever about any other author, William is using the word in the sense of "to lose, lessen". We do after all have the word "demerit" in English. Or maybe I'm simply missing something here, which is of course always possible?
Any comments are welcome.
