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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Translation of latin?
From: John Huth
Date: 2010 Jun 3, 16:22 -0400
From: John Huth
Date: 2010 Jun 3, 16:22 -0400
Mercator had a map published posthumously of the Arctic regions. It had, among other things a huge magnetic mountain at the north pole, which presumably he assumed created the Earth's magnetic field.
This map is called Septentrionalium terrarum descriptio.
If I blow up and look at a region between that is a strait between California and Asia, there are two islands, which I take to be magnetic, and I'm assuming Mercator used to justify magnetic variance.
The names next to the islands look like (if I have my old F=S convention correct)
"Polus magnetis respectu insularu capitis Viridis"
and
"Polus magnetis respectu Corui insule"
The context and what little Latin I know, and the size of the islands somehow leads me down the path of one being a "large" or "strong" island that has an effect on the magnetic field and the other (smaller) island being a "running"?? island.
Somehow he may be trying to capture the concept of secular variation and plain old variance by introducing two islands. Truly a bizarre, but understandable construction.
Thanks!
John H.
