Hyperglot! Meet Cardinal Giuseppe Mezzofanti…
Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti was a talented chap. A priest who had finished his theological studies before reaching the minimum required age, professor of Arabic at the University of Bologna and eventually chief keeper of the Vatican library. He was also a speaker of 38 languages. Actually, 38 is a conservative estimate. People who met him suspected that he spoke many more, due to his uncanny knack for remembering and recalling words and his love of learning. Lord Byron called Mezzofanti: “A monster of languages, the Briareus of parts of speech, a walking polyglot, and more; who ought to have existed at the time of the Tower of Babel, as universal interpreter. He is, indeed, a marvel unassuming also.” And he never even left Italy! So, what’s his story?
Childhood
Mezzofanti was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1774, the son of a carpenter. The first indication of his unusual talents came when, assisting in his father’s workshop, he overheard an old priest in a neighbouring building giving classes in Ancient Greek and Latin. Without ever having seen a Greek or Latin book, the young Mezzofanti remembered the words perfectly. This news soon made it to the old priest who took Mezzofanti under his wing. The young man’s path changed forever. After being sent to Scuole Pie (Church School), Mezzofanti met Spanish, Mexican and Guatamalan Jesuit priests who had been exiled from Spain. He soon picked up their language alongside Latin, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, German, French and smatterings of others that the priests had learnt on their travels. As a young priest, it’s said that Mezzofanti was given a folio volume of the works of St. John Chrysostom and, after a single reading, could recite a page of the treatise “De Sacerdotio” word for word in the original Greek. Naturally, news of these unique abilities started to spread across Italy.
Easy come, easy go
At the age of 24, Mezzofanti was appointed professor of Arabic at Bologna University and shortly afterwards ordained as a priest. This happy arrangement didn’t last for long. After Napoleon’s army marched into northern Italy, peace only returned with the creation of the Cisalpine Republic to which the loyal priest refused to swear allegiance. He was promptly sacked from his position at the university. So what does a talented linguist do when faced with a career crisis? Much the same in the eighteenth century as today… Mezzofanti started offering private language tuition to wealthy families. When the Austrians forced Napoleon out of Bologna, Mezzofanti conversed with troops at the hospital where he was by then working. His love of learning languages was well nourished by the troops from all corners of Europe, from whom he learnt Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Gypsy, German dialects and Russian among others.
Later Years
He continued throughout his life to acquire languages throughout his life and is said to have spoken 38 languages fluently: Ancient Armenian, Modern Armenian, Persian, Turkish, Allmnese, Maltese, Hebrew, Rabbinical Hebrew, Arabic, Cbaiaee, Coptic, Greek, Romaic, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Illyrian, Russian, Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, English, Czechish (or Bohemian), Magyar, Chinese, Svriac, Amarinna, G’eez, Guzarattee, Hindustani, Basque, Wallachian, Calitornian and Algonquin. But in addition to these, he was known to speak or read many more without claiming fluency. These include languages as diverse as Quechua and Cornish! Cardinal Mezzofanti lived out his last years peacefully in Rome and died in 1849, having come a long way from his humble beginnings in Bologna. His last words were in Italian: “Andiamo, andiamo, presto in Paradiso!” which translates roughly as, “Let’s go, let’s go… soon in paradise!”
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