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The First Users' Manual for Dummies: Analysis of Geoffrey Chaucer's "A Treatise on the Astrolabe"
Clear as Mud: The Controversy over the Use of That versus Which
Islamofascism: Controversy over the Use of the lexicon in Political Language
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Introduction
Geoffrey Chaucer's "A Treatise on the Astrolabe" is regarded as one of the oldest English technical manuals for using a scientific measuring instrument. The word Treatise from Middle English (ME) was "a writing which treated some particular subject commonly... containing a formal or methodical discussion of the principles of the subject"-in this case astronomy (Treatise, Oxford English Dictionary). An astrolabe was an astronomical instrument formerly used for taking the altitude of the sun or stars and to solve practical problems in astronomy and navigation. This instrument was used by Greek astronomers from about 200 BC and by Arab astronomers from the Middle Ages until superseded by the sextant (Astrolabe, Dictionary.com; Oxford English Dictionary).
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Chaucer in the Prologue writes in the first person using the pronoun "I" more than a few times which is refrained from in PDE hard science writing such as chemistry, physics, and biology but is commonly used in the soft sciences such as psychology and sociology. The hard sciences refrain from the use of "I" in order to increase objectivity and to emphasize the action of an object upon another object. On the other hand, the soft sciences work with people; writing in the third person seems rather dehumanizing; hence, the soft sciences use the first person. Written for his son, Chaucer most likely found writing in the first person the most natural way of conveying the information.
Chaucer speaks directly to his readers. Writing in the first person seems natural here and emulates introductions found in PDE psychology journal articles. He lays out the purpose of writing this document, illustrates his methodology in compiling the document, and forecasts how the document will be laid out. Here Chaucer's writing is similar to PDE technical writing in all the sciences.
Chaucer excuses himself, informing us that he is not well versed in this topic with the following:
And preie God save the King, that is lord of this language, and alle that him feith berith and obeieth, everich in his degre, the more and the lasse. But considre wel that I ne usurpe not to have founden this werk of my labour or of myn engyn. I n'am but a lewd compilator of the labour of olde astologiens, and have it translatid in myn Englissh oonly for thy doctrine. And with this swerd shal I sleen envie (Benson 662).
Translated from ME to PDE the passage reads the following:
And pray God save the king who is lord of this language and all those who have faith in him and obey him, every one in is degree, some more, some less. But consider well that I am not falsely claiming this work to be my labor or my invention. I am but an ignorant compiler of the work of old astrologers and have translated [their work] into my English only for your instructions. This statement shall serve me as a sword to slay envy (Aloni and Sharon-Zisser 70).
This is a fascinating passage from Chaucer or for any technical document. Chaucer essentially said, "It's my handwriting but I didn't do it!" This is directly opposed to all technical writing. A scientist never openly admits "if there are any errors in this document these errors have occurred because I am not knowledgeable enough in this topic to recognize fallacies in my secondary source materials" (Benson 662). This passage sounds more like a PDE legal disclaimer freeing the author from any inaccuracies in the document. This passage is clearly a deviation from PDE technical writing.
Methods of Organization, Page Layout, Visuals, and Pronoun Usage
"Astrolabe" is broken into three sections: the Prologue, or introduction; Part I, a description of the physical instrument, the astrolabe; and Part II, the conclusion. The titles in Part I and II forecast the contents of the section. Part I, "Here beynneth the descripciun of thine Astralabie" (Benson 663) in PDE means "beneath here [is] the description of [the] thin astrolabe." Chaucer is going to describe how to hold the astrolabe, how the various parts are moved in order to obtain readings, and how to read the graduations on the instrument. Chaucer applies a hierarchy numbering scheme in Part I to eliminate confusion in what to do next in using the astrolabe.
Chaucer provides illustrations directly above his text, therefore his convention is to provide an illustration for the user and then describe in the text exactly what the reader should look at on the user's astrolabe. Chaucer is following conventions that are considered good technical writing in PDE. In addition, Chaucer is also applying good pedagogical methods by appealing to all learners. He provides illustrations for visual learners, text for auditory learners (as it was customary to read aloud, contrary to modern conventions), and practical exercises for kinesthetic learners.
At the end of Part I and the beginning of Part II, Chaucer uses a writing convention that was probably typical of ME. Chaucer said, "Here endith the descripcioun of the Astrelabie and here begynne the conclusions of the Astrelabie" (Benson 669) meaning in PDE, "Here ends the description of the astrolabe and here begins the conclusions of the astrolabe." This is a transitional sentence used to alert the reader that there will be a change of topic in the document.
In Part II, Chaucer uses subheadings that answer basic questions the user may have or computations the user may want to perform. This bears similarity to PDE software programs' help sections or the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on a web site.
For example, Chaucer in number one, Part II posed a question as a statement: "To fynde the degre in which the sonne is day by day, after his cours aboute" (Benson 669) meaning in PDE, "To find the degree in which the sun is day by day after [he is] about his course." His answer was the following:
Reckon and know which is the day of the month, and let the rule upon that same day, and then while the very point of the rule sits in the boarder upon the degree of the sun.
Example is this: The year of our Lord 1391, the 12th day of March at midday, I would know the degree of the sun. I sought in the back half of my astrolabe and found the circle of the days, the while I know by the names of the months written under the same circle. You lead I my rule over this foreseen day, and find the point of my rule in the boarder upon the first degree of Aries, a little within the degree. And thus know I this conclusion.
Another day I would know the degree of my sun, and I found the day of the month in manner as I said; you lead I my rule upon this foreseen 13 day, an find the point of my rule in the boarder upon the first degree of Capricorn a little within the degree. And then had I of this conclusion the full experience (Benson 669).
Chaucer illustrates by example how to perform a rudimentary measurements and answers questions that would certainly be important to someone using an astrolabe. The notable difference in Chaucer's text at the sentence level is he uses the first person personal pronoun "I" and the second personal pronoun "you." A person writing in PDE without formal training in technical writing most likely would make the same choice as this seems a natural way to write when one is instructing someone else how to perform a series of steps. This demonstrates a deviation from PDE technical writing where first and second personal pronoun usage is not used. As was said earlier, removing the first person pronoun enforces objectivity and second person personal pronouns are not used because the text can sound condescending to the user.
Chaucer, in possibly the oldest technical document in English, does establish conventions that are currently used in PDE technical documents such as an introduction, sections, headings, subheadings, strong organization, visuals with text descriptions, and a conclusion. His break from PDE technical writing conventions is the use of the personal pronoun "I' and the use of the second person pronoun "you." The use of "you" seems natural when writing instructions but is considered offensive or condescending in technical writing. If Chaucer came back from the grave one has to wonder could he quickly adjust to writing software manuals for the Dummies series?
"Astrolabe." Dictionary.com. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.dictionary.com.
"Astrolabe." Oxford English Dictionary. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.oed.com.
Benson, Larry D. The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. F. N. Robinson. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Kos, Aleksandra. A Treatise on the Astrolabe. 20 May 2005. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://astrolabe.vidmo.net/treatise.html.
Snedegar, Keith. Rev. of Geoffrey Chaucer A Treatise on the Astrolabe, by Sigmund Eisner ed. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer v. 6, The Prose Treaties, pt. 1 and Time and the Astrolabe in the Canterbury Tales, by Marijane Osborn. ISIS 95.4 (2004): 694-695. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ISIS/journal/issues/v95n4/950410023/950410023.pdf.
"Treatise." Oxford English Dictionary. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.oed.com.
Arch, Jennifer. "A Case against Chaucer's Authorship of the Equatorie of the Planetis." The Chaucer Review 40.1 (2005): 59-79. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://muse.jhu/jounals/chaucer_review/v040/40.larch.pdf.
"Astrolabe." Dictionary.com. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.dictionary.com.
"Astrolabe." Oxford English Dictionary. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.oed.com.
Benson, Larry D. The Riverside Chaucer. Ed. F. N. Robinson. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Chaucer, Geoffrey. A Treatise on the Astrolabe. Ed. Sigmund Eisner. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer v. 6, The Prose Treaties, pt. 1. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.
Edwards, Michael. Rev. of Chaucer, Geoffrey. A Treatise on the Astrolabe. Ed. Sigmund Eisner. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer v. 6, The Prose Treaties, pt. 1. Early Science and Medicine 9.2 (2004): 163-165. Academic Search Premier. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://search.ebscohost.com.
Ellis, Steve, ed. Chaucer. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Elmquist, Karl Erik. "An Observation on Chaucer's Astrolabe." Modern Language Notes 56.7 (1941) 530-534. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://links.jstor.org/sici=0149-6611%28194111%2956%3A7%3C530%3AAOOCA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C.
Garcia, Begona Crespo. "The Scientific Register in the History of English: a Corpus-Based Study." Studia Neophilologia 76.2 (2004): 125-139. JSTOR. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http//www.jstor.org/search.
Kos, Aleksandra. A Treatise on the Astrolabe. 20 May 2005. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://astrolabe.vidmo.net/treatise.html.
Laird, Edgar. "A Previously Unnoticed Manuscript of Chaucer's Treatise on the Astrolabe." The Chaucer Review 34.4 (2000): 410-415. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/chaucer_review/v034/34.4laird.pdf.
Osborn, Marijane. Rev. of Geoffrey Chaucer A Treatise on the Astrolabe, by Sigmund Eisner ed. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer v. 6, The Prose Treaties, pt. 1. International Journal of the Classical Tradition 10.3-4 (2004): 485-488. Academic Search Premier. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://search.ebscohost.com.
Osborn, Marijane. Time and the Astrolabe in the Canterbury Tales. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002.
Skeat, Walter W. The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Vol. III. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900.
Snedegar, Keith. Rev. of Geoffrey Chaucer A Treatise on the Astrolabe, by Sigmund Eisner ed. A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer v. 6, The Prose Treaties, pt. 1 and Time and the Astrolabe in the Canterbury Tales, by Marijane Osborn. ISIS 95.4 (2004): 694-695. Sourced 27 Sept. 2006. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ISIS/journal/issues/v95n4/950410023/950410023.pdf.
"Treatise." Oxford English Dictionary. Sourced 30 Sept. 2006. http://www.oed.com.
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