Quote:
Originally Posted by Leonatus
I'm really grateful for this work, too! As I was taken by the devil of ambition, I tried (!) to translate to me the introduction in latin, and I immediately stumbled across the header: In paradisum amissam. Shouldn't it be "amissum", as paradisus is masculinum? Unluckily, the original is not at my disposition.
Sorry, it may appear impertinent, but I can't get rid of the thought!
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My Latin has largely evaporated too, but some later editions "correct" this 1674 spelling to "in Paradisum Amissum" in both the title and the first line: try a Google search on that phrase. Perhaps it was originally simply a typo (twice)?
And although the Latin Wikipedia accepts that the word can also be feminine, all the translations of Paradise Lost into Latin treat it as masculine. It's worth bearing in mind that this Latin introduction was new in the 1674 edition. And 1674 was the year Milton died: he had been blind for twenty years before that. Although his own knowledge of Latin was excellent, he probably wasn't all that concerned about it when this short Latin poem appeared in the new edition.