[ He started to think. ] -- Er fing zu denken an. -- [ Er an-zu-denken-fing. ]

[Hen Hanna]

[ He started to think. ]

Er hat zu denken angefangen.

[?] Er fing zu denken an.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anfangen

Er an-zu-denken-fing.

Was this (such a word-order) common for older poems?

Could someone give me a real example?

-- preferably Heine, Goethe, a Schubert song,
... if possible.



For about 30 ? years, I've assumed that
[ Er an-zu-denken-fing. ]
is common for medieval poems, based on a few things.


For example...

[To habitually Verb-at-the-end put]
is pretty common in Shakespeare

I'd think it was also common in older German poems.


https://literarydevices.net/syntax/

Writing all of his plays and sonnets in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare habitually reversed the general order of English sentences by placing verbs at the end of the sentences.


Example #1 In Romeo and Juliet

“What light from yonder window breaks?”

instead of using a common expression
“What light breaks from yonder window?”


Example #2 In Richard III

“And all the clouds that lower’d upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”


Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;

HH

[Hen Hanna]

Post by Hen Hanna
[ He started to think. ]
Er hat zu denken angefangen.
[?] Er fing zu denken an.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anfangen

Er an-zu-denken-fing.

Was this (such a word-order) common for older poems?
Could someone give me a real example?
-- preferably Heine, Goethe, a Schubert song,
... if possible.
For about 30 ? years, I've assumed that
[ Er an-zu-denken-fing. ]
is common for medieval poems, based on a few things.
For example...
[To habitually Verb-at-the-end put]
is pretty common in Shakespeare
I'd think it was also common in older German poems.
https://literarydevices.net/syntax/
Writing all of his plays and sonnets in iambic pentameter, Shakespeare habitually reversed the general order of English sentences by placing verbs at the end of the sentences.
Example #1 In Romeo and Juliet
“What light from yonder window breaks?”
instead of using a common expression
“What light breaks from yonder window?”
Example #2 In Richard III
“And all the clouds that lower’d upon our house in the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”
Ich weiß nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
HH

There was a related thread in 2004 (?)

Post by Hen Hanna

David's aria in Die Meistersinger begins "Fanget an! So rief der Lenz in

dem Wald ..."


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis


In Heinrich Böll's novel "Der Engel schwieg" I recently came across
the sentence "er ... stellte schmunzelnd fest, daß das dünne Blech an
zu glühen fing ..." (rather than the standard "anfing zu glühen").


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tmesis

"He ... smiled grimly,
That the thin sheet began to glow ... "


Standard German:
(1) Er fing an zu weinen
(2)... weil er zu weinen anfing
(3)... weil er anfing zu weinen
(4) *... weil er an zu weinen fing


weil er an zu weinen fing

HH

[Hen Hanna]

Post by Hen Hanna

Er an-zu-denken-fing.

Was this (such a word-order) common for older poems?
Could someone give me a real example?
-- preferably Heine, Goethe, a Schubert song,
... if possible.

This is pretty good.


Don Quiote im Reifrocke, oder die abentheuerlichen Begebenheiten der ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=lCtPAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
[Anonymus AC10225601] - 1754
Dieser Gedanke erschreckte sie dergestalt, daß sie laut an zu schreyen fing. Als Hervey dieß Geschrey hörte, ritt er geschwinde zu, um sich nach der Ursache ...



Don Quiote in the Reifrocke, or the disastrous events of the ...
Https://books.google.com/books?id=lCtPAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
[Anonymous AC10225601] - 1754
This thought frightened her so much that she began to scream aloud. When Hervey heard this shriek, he rode swiftly to the cause ...

[Ruud Harmsen]

Post by Hen Hanna
[ He started to think. ]
Er hat zu denken angefangen.
[?] Er fing zu denken an.

In somewhat old-fashioned and unusual Dutch it could be:
Hij ving aan te denken.
Only in that order.

Post by Hen Hanna
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anfangen
For about 30 ? years, I've assumed that
[ Er an-zu-denken-fing. ]
is common for medieval poems, based on a few things.

It doesn't strike me as grammatical in any language. Not nowadays or
recently, anyway.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Hen Hanna

Er an-zu-denken-fing.

What famous poem? never heard anything like that. Grammatically possible are:
Er fing an zu denken, and more poetical: Er zu denken anfing, normal in the
form: worauf er zu denken anfing, whereupon he started thinking.

Post by Hen Hanna
Example #1 In Romeo and Juliet
“What light from yonder window breaks?”
instead of using a common expression
“What light breaks from yonder window?”

The only grammar I know of that considers word order is the one of Pater
Rupert Ruhstaller OSB, a grammar based on functors and arguments visualized
by budding circles http://www.seshat.ch/home/grammar.htm

The natural word order is: main argument, main functor ... The main argument
is 'what light' and the main functor 'breaks', hence the natural order is
'what light breaks ...'. If you place the main functor at the end of your
sentence, you raise tension, which happens also in the line

What light from yonder window breaks?

A sensitive reader or listener can almost s e e the light break through
the window, forceful, enhanced by the raised thension natural poets know of
on their own, without having studied linguistics.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Er fing an zu denken, and more poetical: Er zu denken anfing, normal in the
form: worauf er zu denken anfing, whereupon he started thinking.
The only grammar I know of that considers word order is the one of Pater
Rupert Ruhstaller OSB, a grammar based on functors and arguments visualized
by budding circles http://www.seshat.ch/home/grammar.htm
The natural word order is: main argument, main functor ... The main argument
is 'what light' and the main functor 'breaks', hence the natural order is
'what light breaks ...'. If you place the main functor at the end of your
sentence, you raise tension, which happens also in the line
What light from yonder window breaks?
A sensitive reader or listener can almost s e e the light break through
the window, forceful, enhanced by the raised thension natural poets know of
on their own, without having studied linguistics.

I have to correct myself. In earlier centuries the grammar was loose.
Examples from Grimm's Wörterbuch: an zu fängt, fängt an zu, an hat gefangen,
zu anefieng

(quote)

wenn man mit kindern an zu vernünfteln fängt.
C. F. Weisze;

fängt seine finger an zu zählen.
Wieland 10, 320;
da man selbst freundschaftliche briefe an zu misbrauchen fängt. 112;

als der knabe
lettern an zu kritzeln fängt.
Göthe 4, 108;
kaum aber hat er den ersten schlag mit dem hammer gethan, als ein hund, der in einem winkel des zimmers gelegen und den sie nicht wahrgenommen, aufspringt und an zu bellen fängt. Lessing 4, 423; sobald aber jener wieder mit dem hammer an zu schlagen fängt. 4, 424; wo man narrenweis an hat gefangen. fastn. sp. 729, 29;

die frauw zu wainen anefieng.
H. Sachs I, 524a;

(unquote)

Hen Hanna, it would help if you made your questions more explicit. When you
mention a famous poem, you should at least quote its title and author,
and the line you are interested in.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
I have to correct myself. In earlier centuries the grammar was loose.
Examples from Grimm's Wörterbuch: an zu fängt, fängt an zu, an hat gefangen,
zu anefieng
(quote)
wenn man mit kindern an zu vernünfteln fängt.
C. F. Weisze;
fängt seine finger an zu zählen.
Wieland 10, 320;
da man selbst freundschaftliche briefe an zu misbrauchen fängt. 112;
als der knabe
lettern an zu kritzeln fängt.
Göthe 4, 108;
kaum aber hat er den ersten schlag mit dem hammer gethan, als ein hund, der in einem winkel des zimmers gelegen und den sie nicht wahrgenommen, aufspringt und an zu bellen fängt. Lessing 4, 423; sobald aber jener wieder mit dem hammer an zu schlagen fängt. 4, 424; wo man narrenweis an hat gefangen. fastn. sp. 729, 29;
die frauw zu wainen anefieng.
H. Sachs I, 524a;
(unquote)
Hen Hanna, it would help if you made your questions more explicit. When you
mention a famous poem, you should at least quote its title and author,
and the line you are interested in.

Hen Hanna answered my question "What famous poem?" in a new thread, where
he quotes the poem

Der Jammerwoch by Robert Scott (1872) -- who was a famous linguist.

Es brillig war. Die schlichte Toven
Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.

»Bewahre doch vor Jammerwoch!
Die Zähne knirschen, Krallen kratzen!
Bewahr' vor Jubjub-Vogel, vor
Frumiösen Banderschntzchen!«

Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manchsan' Ding;
Dann, stehend unterm Tumtum Baum,
Er an-zu-denken-fing.

Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feuer
Durch tulgen Wald mit Wiffek kam
Ein burbelnd Ungeheuer!

Eins, Zwei! Eins, Zwei! Und durch und durch
Sein vorpals Schwert zerschnifer-schnück,
Da blieb es todt! Er, Kopf in Hand,
Geläumfig zog zurück.

»Und schlugst Du ja den Jammerwoch?
Umarme mich, mien Böhm'sches Kind!
O Freuden-Tag! O Halloo-Schlag!«
Er schortelt froh-gesinnt.

Es brillig war. Die schlichte Toven
Wirrten und wimmelten in Waben;
Und aller-mümsige Burggoven
Die mohmen Räth' ausgraben.

(end of quote)

The language is a parody on German. "Er an-zu-denken-fing" is oblique grammar
used for the purpose of irony. A parallel is the famous "Totemügerli" by
Franz Hohler, sounds like Bärndüütsch but consists mostly of invented words.
You understand nothing and yet you understand the situation or mood perfectly
well. The Jammerwoch is a medieval romance ending tragically, the tragic
neutralized by the nonsense words.

[Hen Hanna]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Er fing an zu denken, and more poetical: Er zu denken anfing, normal in the
form: worauf er zu denken anfing, whereupon he started thinking.
The only grammar I know of that considers word order is the one of Pater
Rupert Ruhstaller OSB, a grammar based on functors and arguments visualized
by budding circles http://www.seshat.ch/home/grammar.htm
The natural word order is: main argument, main functor ... The main argument
is 'what light' and the main functor 'breaks', hence the natural order is
'what light breaks ...'. If you place the main functor at the end of your
sentence, you raise tension, which happens also in the line
What light from yonder window breaks?
A sensitive reader or listener can almost s e e the light break through
the window, forceful, enhanced by the raised thension natural poets know of
on their own, without having studied linguistics.

I have to correct myself. In earlier centuries the grammar was loose.
Examples from Grimm's Wörterbuch: an zu fängt, fängt an zu, an hat gefangen,
zu anefieng
(quote)
als der knabe
lettern an zu kritzeln fängt.
Göthe 4, 108;
kaum aber hat er den ersten schlag mit dem hammer gethan, als ein hund, der in einem winkel des zimmers gelegen und den sie nicht wahrgenommen, aufspringt und an zu bellen fängt. Lessing 4, 423;

sobald aber jener wieder mit dem hammer an zu schlagen fängt. 4, 424;



Thank you so much! What works are these (above) by Goethe and Lessing?



Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats- und gelehrten Sachen: 1820,7/9
https://books.google.com/books?id=TFlNAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
1820 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
Der General Anwald und General Solicitor (Ge hülfe des ersten) heantwortete seine Argumente ausführ lich, während die Königin sich entfernt hatte. Herr Brougham duplicirte, und so wie er an zu sprechen fing, nahm die Königin ihren Sitz ...



“Die” Gründung Prags: Ein historisch-romantisches Drama - Page 156
https://books.google.com/books?id=lWlMAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
1815 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
... ich gefunden, Wenn gleich der Lichtkreis immer vor mir ging, Der bis zum Tage, wie an mich gebunden, Vor meiner Seele, meinen Augen hing, Und endlich vor der Sonne erst verschwunden, Die überm Schlosse an zu leuchten fing.



Magazin für die neue Historie und Geographie - Volume 21 - Page 236
https://books.google.com/books?id=kuxXAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
1787 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
... so fanden sie die Dose nochmals verschlossen, und konnten nichts heraus bekommen, wora über dann die Kaiserin herzlich an zu lachen fing, und Ihro Hoheit die Tabacksdose in die Hände gab, um ihnen zu zeigen, wie sie gemachet war.



Die Schicksale der Polnischen Dissidenten von ihrem ersten Ursprunge ...
https://books.google.com/books?id=f2xKAAAAcAAJ - Translate this page
1768 - ‎Read - ‎More editions
... daß sie Weib und Leben viel lieber ansetzen, als von der einmal erkannten christlichen Religion, oder von der Römischen Kirche abtreten wollten. Wenn man aber an zu singen fing: Gloria tibi Domine! so wurden sie wieder eingesteckt.

[Hen Hanna]

Post by Hen Hanna
Thank you so much! What works are these (above) by Goethe and Lessing?

I think the Goethe example (see below) shows that
there's nothing inherently too-playful or
strange (for an old poem) or droll
about [an-zu-denken-fing]

The hyphens are a bit droll, I guess.

_________________


The drift of the poem makes
the reader insert an implicit [Als] anyway.

Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manchsan' Ding;
Dann, stehend unterm Tumtum Baum,
[Als] Er an-zu-denken-fing. <------------

Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feuer
Durch tulgen Wald mit Wiffek kam
Ein burbelnd Ungeheuer!

---- Does it sound better with the [Als] ?

I think so, but bad grammar.

______________

an-zu-denken-fing feels like an infix

like
Als er ankam, ...
Als er an (zu Haus) kam, ...

Abso-goddamn-lutely !


Sämtliche Werke (Über 1000 Titel in einem Buch - Vollständige ...
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8026844874 (bad link?)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - 2015 - ‎Preview
22 Der Gräfin Titinne O'Donell, die eine meiner Schreibfedern verlangte

Als der Knabe nach der Schule,
Das Pennal in Händen, ging
Und mit stumpfer Federspule
Lettern an zu kritzeln fing,

Hofft' er endlich schön zu schreiben
Als den ...

( ~10 line poem)

HH

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manchsan' Ding;
Dann, stehend unterm Tumtum Baum,
[Als] Er an-zu-denken-fing. <------------
Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feuer
Durch tulgen Wald mit Wiffek kam
Ein burbelnd Ungeheuer!
---- Does it sound better with the [Als] ?
I think so, but bad grammar.

No, the Als doesn't help. Der Jammerwoch or Wailing Week is a parody
on medieval German poetry, with invented words and oblique grammar
as a means of irony. Correct: Dann, als er unter dem Tumtum Baum stand,
fing er an zu denken

Dann, unter dem Tumtum Baum stehend
Fing er an zu denken

But what is a Tumtum Baum? It's just nonsense, a parody, satire, the poem
of a linguist who had fun making fun of morose medieval German lyrics.
Er-an-zu-denken-fing is his own invention, you won't find it anywhere else.

[Peter T. Daniels]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Er griff sein vorpals Schwertchen zu,
Er suchte lang das manchsan' Ding;
Dann, stehend unterm Tumtum Baum,
[Als] Er an-zu-denken-fing. <------------
Als stand er tief in Andacht auf,
Des Jammerwochen's Augen-feuer
Durch tulgen Wald mit Wiffek kam
Ein burbelnd Ungeheuer!
---- Does it sound better with the [Als] ?
I think so, but bad grammar.

No, the Als doesn't help. Der Jammerwoch or Wailing Week is a parody
on medieval German poetry, with invented words and oblique grammar
as a means of irony. Correct: Dann, als er unter dem Tumtum Baum stand,
fing er an zu denken
Dann, unter dem Tumtum Baum stehend
Fing er an zu denken
But what is a Tumtum Baum? It's just nonsense, a parody, satire, the poem
of a linguist who had fun making fun of morose medieval German lyrics.
Er-an-zu-denken-fing is his own invention, you won't find it anywhere else.

Oh My God. You really don't know that it's a "literal" translation of
Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," which is _not_ a parody of "morose medieval
German lyrics."

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogovves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Peter T. Daniels
Oh My God. You really don't know that it's a "literal" translation of
Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky," which is _not_ a parody of "morose medieval
German lyrics."
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogovves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Yes, I really didn't know the poem by Lewis Carrol, never having read
Alice in Wonderland. The original version is much clearer than the
German translation. A medieval hero slays a monster, frees people from
the menace, is getting celebrated, and the bees go on hovering around
their hive, as they did in the beginning, and will go on doing forever,
or at least until they all get killed by antibiotics that eliminate
their intestinal fauna. Primed by the German title Der Jammerwoch,
The Wailing Week, I thought the story must be tragical, the hero dies,
and is mourned by his darling the Burgfräulein. Then the title must be
ironic, for German Woche is feminine, hence Die Jammerwoche, but of
coarse the mock masculine form Der Jammerwoch sounds more ridiculously
heroic ... Once again Claude Lévy-Strauss is proven right. He said
the difference between mythology and lyrics is that the former can be
translated into any language, the latter into none, there will always
be a great loss. Even holds for nonsense lyrics.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Yes, I really didn't know the poem by Lewis Carrol, never having read
Alice in Wonderland. The original version is much clearer than the
German translation. A medieval hero slays a monster, frees people from
the menace, is getting celebrated, and the bees go on hovering around
their hive, as they did in the beginning, and will go on doing forever,
or at least until they all get killed by antibiotics that eliminate
their intestinal fauna. Primed by the German title Der Jammerwoch,
The Wailing Week, I thought the story must be tragical, the hero dies,
and is mourned by his darling the Burgfräulein. Then the title must be
ironic, for German Woche is feminine, hence Die Jammerwoche, but of
coarse the mock masculine form Der Jammerwoch sounds more ridiculously
heroic ... Once again Claude Lévy-Strauss is proven right. He said
the difference between mythology and lyrics is that the former can be
translated into any language, the latter into none, there will always
be a great loss. Even holds for nonsense lyrics.

Hen Hanna approves of my above comment (in his parallel thread). Maybe
Robert Scott was deliberately turning the fun poem by Lewis Carol into
a pseudo-mournful parody of heroic medieval German literature? In my
opinion there is no getting around the German title Der Jammerwoch
'The Wailing Week' and the irony of the masculine der Woch. If so,
Robert Scott had something else in mind than just a translation.

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Hen Hanna approves of my above comment (in his parallel thread). Maybe
Robert Scott was deliberately turning the fun poem by Lewis Carol into
a pseudo-mournful parody of heroic medieval German literature? In my
opinion there is no getting around the German title Der Jammerwoch
'The Wailing Week' and the irony of the masculine der Woch. If so,
Robert Scott had something else in mind than just a translation.

Maybe my reading was wrong. The Jammern in Jammerwoch might also refer
to the people lamenting about the menace posed by the monster, and their
fear that the apparently naive young man might be killed, but his pure
soul (another topic of medieval literature) made him overcome the danger
and return a hero. Hen Hanna, don't give up liking the poem. As for Schlag,
this word reminds me of Mark Twain who offered his help in simplifying
the difficult German language by several rules, the final one being
to reduce the vocabulary to Schlag and Zug, apparently popular words
by then (as are now Hammer for something great and es passt for something
that is fine). Twain made fun of German but he loved that language.

[Hen Hanna]

Post by Franz Gnaedinger

Post by Franz Gnaedinger
Hen Hanna approves of my above comment (in his parallel thread). Maybe
Robert Scott was deliberately turning the fun poem by Lewis Carol into
a pseudo-mournful parody of heroic medieval German literature? In my
opinion there is no getting around the German title Der Jammerwoch
'The Wailing Week' and the irony of the masculine der Woch. If so,
Robert Scott had something else in mind than just a translation.

Maybe my reading was wrong. The Jammern in Jammerwoch might also refer
to the people lamenting about the menace posed by the monster, and their
fear that the apparently naive young man might be killed, but his pure
soul (another topic of medieval literature) made him overcome the danger
and return a hero. Hen Hanna, don't give up liking the poem. As for Schlag,
this word reminds me of Mark Twain who offered his help in simplifying
the difficult German language by several rules, the final one being
to reduce the vocabulary to Schlag and Zug, apparently popular words
by then (as are now Hammer for something great and es passt for something
that is fine). Twain made fun of German but he loved that language.

Thank you. Maybe [Jammerwoche] used to be often used
to refer to Jesus.

I'm certainly open to the possibility that a Victorian
ling prof was engaging in a super-high-level
allusive fun.


I note: Schlag in (schlagenden Busen)


Ein Schweizer-Blatt - Volume 2 - Page 52
https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=f0pHAAAAcAAJ 1782

... Lauffen des Abends und vom Suchen der Nacht und vom Fieber des schlagenden Busen, der von Hoffnung und Todesangst immer abwechselnd bebte und von der ganzen Last der schlaflosen Jammerwoche auf das äußerste entkräftet, ...
Die kluge Wahl deß einigen, nothwendigen und besten, von Gott ...
______________

A Swiss sheet - Volume 2 - Page 52
Https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=f0pHAAAAcAAJ 1782

... in the evening, and from the search of the night, and of the fever of the beating bosom, which alternately shook with hope and death, and from the whole burden of the sleepless week of woe, The wise choice of some, necessary and best, of God ...

[Franz Gnaedinger]

Post by Hen Hanna
Thank you. Maybe [Jammerwoche] used to be often used
to refer to Jesus.

You must mean the Karwoche, the week before Easter.

Post by Hen Hanna
I'm certainly open to the possibility that a Victorian
ling prof was engaging in a super-high-level
allusive fun.

Surely, and making fun can go along with liking something.