Henry Vaughan's Knowledge (and Use) of Greek

Abstract

In his earliest three books of poetry and prose, Henry Vaughan does not quote any Greek; yet beginning with Flores Solitudinis (1654), he supplies nearly a score of Greek phrases taken from his source text. This interest in Greek is probably the joint product of his enthusiasm for the Jesuit Juan Eusebio Nieremberg and his exposure to texts that incorporated Greek medical terminology. Comparing the original Greek texts and their accompanying Latin translations with Vaughan's English translations in Flores shows that he had a more than rudimentary knowledge of Greek but was seldom independent of the Latin glosses. While there is enough evidence to establish that Vaughan could read Greek—he certainly read the koine Greek of the New Testament—his use of Greek in his translations seems calculated to demonstrate his command of the language. Vaughan uses Greek text in his writing for an effect: it helps establish his ethos as a learned man at a time when he was refashioning himself as a medical practitioner.