Mailbox
Today in Mailbox: "Zed" or "zee", Radio Prague's signature tune, listeners' quiz. Listeners/readers quoted: Colin Law, Joanna Shelton, Hans Verner Lollike, Valery Lugovskiy, Mary Lou Krenek, P. Sivashanmugham, Jayanta Chakrabarty, Deblina Biswas, Dipita Chakrabarty.
Colin Law from New Zealand responded to an e-mail quoted in the last edition of this programme:
“Please don't be persuaded to alter your English pronunciation to suit one listener who has not learned the English language. I was born in England in the northern hemisphere and now live in an English-speaking country on the opposite side of the globe in the southern hemisphere and I have always understood ZED to be the pronunciation of the final letter of the English alphabet. Perhaps your listener should look for pronunciation guides online to help him to understand the pronunciation used by the majority of English speakers, and I include your very capable English speaking Czech staff in that majority.”
Thank you for your message and rest assured that we shall stick to the pronunciation we are used to. Of course, should an American reporter join our staff and prefer the pronunciation “zee”, we will not force him or her to say “zed”.
Joanna Shelton from the US state of Minnesota sent us this query:
“I have an old shortwave radio on which my father listened to the fall of Prague to the nazis. He always remembered the theme music but could never identify it... nor could I, the professional musician of the family. He remembered a horn call... a friend thought Smetana, the Moldau. But I think it might be from Dvořák's New World Symphony. I would be so grateful if you could tell me which movement of which piece was that haunting theme. My dad died thirty years ago...” I believe the motif you have in mind is Radio Prague’s signature tune which indeed comes from Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony.
“Thank you for coming back to church affairs – or is it also politics? You never know! At least many historians see the travel of Odoric of Pordenone, O.F.M., from Italy as far as Beijing, visiting many countries on his way, as a diplomatic mission of the Pope.
“Odoric was born in Pordenone in Italy. He became a Franciscan monk, and was obviously a talented youth around 1286. He was sent as a missionary to the Balkans, and later on to Asia in 1318, traveling ‘slowly’ between the missionary centers set up by the Franciscans in India and the South Asian countries. He might have been as far as Lhasa in Tibet as the first known European. After returning to Italy he told his story to Brother William of Solagna, from whose script in Latin his travel to Asia was known. For historians it has been difficult to verify details of the story, but the story itself has had an immense impact in church history.”
“Participation in researching your quiz allows one to rein in one’s own pride and arrogance and put it in place. Indeed, the world is so big and so long lasting that one’s own knowledge of it is only a teaspoon, a thimble in the ocean. Also (I slightly smile), it begins to seem that everything in this world has its origins in the Czech lands.
“Instead of repeating his biography, which my colleagues in Mailbox will certainly talk about in interesting details, I will focus on only one of the legendary items, ascribed to the monk, traveler and diplomat, whose achievements were no smaller than those of Marco Polo.
This is what Mary Lou Krenek from Texas wrote:
“In 1314, Blessed Odoric of Pordenone left for the Orient. He travelled and preached in Armenia, Media, and Persia. The Franciscans had founded mission centers in these countries. He then sailed to India and the islands of Ceylon, Sumatra, and Java. He pushed forward to China and preaching Christ crucified along the way, he finally arrived at the capital of Cambalac or present day Beijing. There he met the great apostle of China, the Franciscan friar John of Montecorvino, who had been appointed archbishop of Cambalac in 1307.
P. Sivashanmugham from India sent in this brief answer:
“Odoric of Pordenone was born at Villanova. He came from a Czech family named Mattiussi. He had visited Thana, Malabar and Puri in India. He visited Peking and stayed there for three years.”
“The travels which Odoric would subsequently write about in great detail began in April 1315 when he was sent to follow a group of missionaries who had preceded him to the east. He went from the Black Sea through Persia and on to India, Ceylon, Sumatra and Vietnam, and then to Canton in China. In China he visited several cities before reaching Peking, the city of the Great Khan where he stayed for 3 years.
“By the time he reached Italy in 1330 Odoric was 65 years old and his 15 years of often arduous missionary exploration had taken its toll of him so that he was not immediately recognizable to his compatriots. He was passing through Pisa on his way to report to the Pope when he met an old man dressed as a pilgrim. The old man told Odoric ‘return to your convent for in ten days you will depart this world’. Odoric set out for the convent at Udine, but on the way he stopped to rest at Padua where he dictated his account of his journeys to Brother William. The account did not detail the hardships and dangers he encountered, but it is very descriptive of the people and places that Odoric had encountered with much detail about the customs and living conditions.
This answer is from Jayanta Chakrabarty from India:
“Odoric's name stands out prominently in the annals of history of early European missionaries to travel to India. Crossing through Persia he landed in northern Bombay to gather the remains of Franciscans martyred to be buried in China. He is reported to have travelled quite extensively while in India, visiting the Christian centres of the Malabar coast, Calicut, Coromandal coast, Madras and the Nicobar Islands. He remained in China for three years learning about the country and its people. Through his comprehensive narrative the world learned many unique facts of China and the Chinese people which Marco Polo did not mention in his travels. On his return journey he travelled through Lhasa, probably the first European to visit Tibet. It is alleged that his excellent account of his travels was plagiarised by Mandeville which became popular among the geographers of that period. The accounts of his travelogue were available in Prague as early as 1340 and was also popular in Italy, France, Germany and England in Latin, French and English. The most popular English version being ‘Cathay and the Way Thither’. This humble Czech was laid to rest in Udine on 14 Jan 1331.”
“He started preaching to the East from 1318 AD and for this mission he went to Constantinople, Venice, Armenia, Persia, Baghdad and other places. Then he came to India and landed near Thane in Bombay (now Mumbai). During his stay in India he also came to Puri and had the experience to witness the world-famous Chariot festival of Lord Jagananth there. From India he went further to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philippines, Mongolia and then to China, where he had stayed for nearly three years between 1324 to 1327 AD. On his return journey he went to Mongolia, Tibet, Tabriz, Venice and then finally returned to his homeland in late 1329 AD. Odorico's globetrotting can be best described as a diplomatic mission in addition to its religious dimensions. About seventy three manuscripts of Odorico’s narratives in Italian, French and Latin are known to exist. While travelling towards the Papal court in Avignon, Odorico fell ill at Pisa and later died in Udine on 14th January 1331 AD.”
“Odoric of Pordenone born of noble Czech-Italian parents in 1265 in Friuli, entered the Franciscan Order when only 15 years old. Following a strict life of penance, solitude and study he zealously prepared himself to be a missionary and rose to be a successful and revered priest. Followers travelled great distances to hear his sermons. But in his heart Odoric harboured a desire to win the souls for God in the so-called heathen countries of the East. He travelled extensively through Armenia, Persia, India, Indonesia to China founding missions and meeting the great apostle Franciscan John of Montecorvino who had been appointed the Archbishop of Peiping (now Beijing). Returning to Europe he submitted a report of his 15 years of apostolic work to the pontiff John XXII in the hope of securing fresh recruits for the apostolate. However, being of humble nature he suppressed his untold sufferings, hardships and torture he had encountered. His miracles at his tomb were recognised with honour by Pope Benedict in 1775. Followers erected an imposing memorial at Pordenone to remember him for posterity.”
This time we would like to know the name of the Czech inventor, industrialist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter born in 1894 in the Moravian town of Vsetín. He registered dozens of patents in the field of electrical and mechanical engineering, among them also a design of a vertical take-off and landing aircraft.
