Annotated Ramon Llull Prose

Ramon Llull's prose is early enough that a modern reader recognizes the sentence's skeleton while repeatedly meeting unfamiliar forms. That productive tension makes it ideal for historical grammar: the task is not to “correct” medieval Catalan, but to identify which forms have disappeared, which survive in another register or region, and which relations are still expressed in much the same way.

The broader developments behind those differences are mapped on the historical syntax page; this close reading keeps the passage itself at the center.

Source and transcription policy

The bounded excerpt below is the opening of chapter I, “De l'elecció de rei,” in Ramon Llull's Llibre de les bèsties. It is transcribed from M. Obrador Bennassar's public-domain 1905 edition, available at Viquitexts. We reproduce the edition's words, accents, and prestandard spacing—including que l—rather than silently converting them into modern Catalan. Line breaks and paragraphing are adapted for this page. This is an edition of a medieval work, not Llull's autograph.

Public-domain excerpt

En una bella plana per on passava una bella aigua estaven gran res de besties selvatges qui volien elegir rei. Acord fo pres per la major part que l lleó fos rei; més lo bou contrastava molt fortment a aquella elecció, i digué estes paraules:

—Senyors, a noblesa de rei se convé bellesa de persona, i que sia gran i humil, i que no dó damnatge a ses gents. Lo lleó no es gran bestia, ni es bestia que visca d'herba, ans menja les besties. Lo lleó ha paraula i veu que fa estremir de por tots nosaltres con crida, més per mon consell vosaltres elegireu lo cavall a rei; car lo cavall es gran bestia i bella i humil; lo cavall es bestia lleugera, i no ha semblant ergullós i no menja carn.

Historical spellings inside this block are evidence, not models for a present-day composition.

Guide-authored modern normalization

The following is a pedagogical normalization written for this guide, not a quotation and not a critical edition. It preserves the argument while choosing contemporary Central standard forms and lightly clarifying two opaque phrases.

En una bella plana per on passava un bell riu, hi havia moltes bèsties salvatges que volien elegir rei. La majoria va acordar que el lleó fos rei; però el bou s'oposava fermament a aquella elecció i va dir aquestes paraules:

—Senyors, un rei noble ha de ser bell de persona, gran i humil, i no ha de fer mal a la seva gent. El lleó no és una bèstia grossa ni una bèstia que visqui d'herba, sinó que menja les altres bèsties. El lleó té una veu que ens fa estremir de por quan crida; però, si seguiu el meu consell, elegireu el cavall com a rei, perquè el cavall és una bèstia grossa, bella i humil; és una bèstia àgil, no té un posat orgullós i no menja carn.

The normalization makes interpretive choices: bella aigua becomes bell riu from context, and no ha semblant ergullós becomes no té un posat orgullós. A scholarly edition might choose different solutions and document manuscript variation.

Idiomatic English translation

On a beautiful plain crossed by a fine river, there were many wild animals who wished to elect a king. The majority agreed that the lion should be king, but the ox strongly opposed that choice and spoke as follows:

“My lords, a noble king must be handsome, imposing, and humble, and must do no harm to his people. The lion is not a large animal, nor does he live on grass; instead, he eats the other animals. The lion has a voice that makes us all tremble with fear when he roars. But if you take my advice, you will choose the horse as king, for the horse is large, handsome, and humble; he is agile, does not look proud, and eats no meat.”

This translation renders the rhetoric, not each medieval word mechanically. Senyors is “my lords” in the speaking situation, while modern conversational “gentlemen” would give the scene the wrong social texture.

Numbered annotations

1. Estaven gran res de bèsties: recognizable verb, obsolete quantity phrase

The edition's estaven gran res de besties literally uses estar plus a medieval quantifier meaning “a great number of animals.” Modern Catalan would normally present them with hi havia moltes bèsties. Copying the medieval words one by one into English produces nonsense because res here does not mean modern negative “anything/nothing.”

This is a warning against false-friend reading across time: a familiar-looking form can have changed meaning.

2. Qui volien and modern que volien

Medieval qui could introduce a relative clause with a human or animate antecedent more freely. Contemporary standard Catalan normally uses uninflected que here: bèsties que volien elegir rei. Modern qui is principally used after a preposition or without an expressed antecedent.

The omitted subject of volien is recovered from bèsties. English requires no such omission, but it does require an overt relative subject (“that/who”).

3. Fo pres: simple past plus a passive participle

Fo is a medieval simple-past form of ser, corresponding to later fou; the phrase acord fo pres is a passive, “an agreement was reached.” Modern prose might retain fou pres (formal/literary), choose the periphrastic passive va ser pres, or more naturally make la majoria the subject: La majoria va acordar...

The locative-looking hi in s'hi va oposar resumes the prepositional complement a aquella decisió. Catalan clitics encode grammatical relation, not just physical place.

4. Que el lleó fos rei: the subjunctive survives

Although fo has receded, fos remains the modern imperfect subjunctive of ser. The agreement establishes a desired institutional outcome rather than reporting a preexisting fact, hence the subjunctive. English “agreed that the lion should be king” uses a modal instead.

5. Més, ans, and car organize opposition and cause

In this 1905 transcription, més functions as the adversative conjunction now written mes “but” (formal/literary), not as quantitative més “more.” Ans rejects or replaces the negative clause before it: “but rather.” Car introduces a reason and survives in elevated prose (formal/literary). Neutral modern prose prefers però, sinó que, and perquè/ja que.

6. Sia, dó, visca: old and living subjunctive layers

Sia is an older or elevated counterpart of modern sigui; it also has a different regional history and should not simply be labeled “bad Catalan.” Dó corresponds to modern doni. Visca remains current as a standard regional subjunctive form and in the general acclamation Visca!, while contemporary Central prose normally uses visqui in this clause. All three occur because the ox describes properties required of an ideal king: que sigui... que no doni... que visqui...

7. Articles and possessives: lo, ses, mon

The medieval masculine article lo corresponds here to modern el. Similar-looking lo survives in Northwestern speech and other regional systems, but a medieval article should not automatically be assigned a present-day dialect label. Ses gents and mon consell use unstressed possessives: modern Central prose normally has la seva gent and el meu consell. Some unstressed possessives remain productive especially (regional: Balearic) and in fixed phrases.

8. Information structure argues through repetition

The ox repeatedly begins with Lo lleó... Lo lleó... lo cavall... lo cavall.... This is not clumsy redundancy: oral argumentative prose keeps each candidate as a visible topic, then attaches properties to it. The contrast moves from danger (menja les bèsties, fa estremir) to suitability (bella i humil, no menja carn).

The modern sentence makes each animal an explicit subject. That repetition is lighter than the source's fourfold topic chain, but it still makes the lion–horse contrast easy to follow.

Read-aloud version

Do not read the edition as though every accent and vowel followed today's spelling. For a first pedagogical reading, pronounce the historical block with a consistent modern Catalan sound system while preserving its words; then read the normalization naturally. Pause after Acord fo pres and before the ox's direct speech. Within the speech, emphasize repeated Lo lleó and lo cavall so that the argument's two columns are audible.

Llull was Mallorcan, and the medieval language predates today's standard-and-dialect map. A Central modern reading is a learning aid, not a reconstruction of Llull's own pronunciation. Estes also deserves care: it is historical in this passage but is a current standard demonstrative (regional: Valencian). History and region can overlap without being identical.

Comprehension checks

1. What does gran res de mean here, and why is modern res misleading?
2. Which medieval simple-past form appears in the passive acord fo pres?
3. Why does fos follow the act of agreeing?
4. Which three connectives correspond roughly to modern però, sinó que, and perquè?
5. What qualities does the ox assign to the lion and the horse?

Transformation exercises

1. Normalize qui volien elegir rei after bèsties using modern que.
2. Turn passive Acord fou pres per la majoria into an active sentence beginning La majoria....
3. Replace sia, dó, and historical usage with sigui, doni, preserving the subjunctive.
4. Modernize per mon consell as si seguiu el meu consell.
5. Rewrite the lion/horse contrast once with modern connectors but keep the repeated topics.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Preserve the source text, the editorial normalization, and the translation as three distinct layers.
• Familiar forms may have unfamiliar meanings: medieval gran res de is a prime example.
• Some forms receded (fo), some shifted register (car), and some remain current with different distributions (fos generally; visca regionally and in acclamations).
• Repetition and subordination make the ox's political argument coherent across the whole passage.