How to understand this long sentence?
Hello everyone,

These sentences below come from Wilkie Colin's novel, The Moonstone:

A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar influences—the moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time.

I really got lost in the second part, "applying, however (as in India)... in our own time."

How to break down a long sentence like this?
For my understanding, ancient Greece and Rome have a prevalent superstition, which is related to a gem (gem only, not related to a god). India has the same kind of superstition, but it's related to a diamond devoted to a god. The gem in ancient Greece and the diamond in India are both affected by the moon, and this influence give the India diamond its name.

I'd really appreciate your help here. Thank you in advance!

Question

How to understand this long sentence?
Hello everyone,

These sentences below come from Wilkie Colin's novel, The Moonstone:

A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in India), to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar influences—the moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time.

I really got lost in the second part, "applying, however (as in India)... in our own time."

How to break down a long sentence like this?
For my understanding, ancient Greece and Rome have a prevalent superstition, which is related to a gem (gem only, not related to a god). India has the same kind of superstition, but it's related to a diamond devoted to a god. The gem in ancient Greece and the diamond in India are both affected by the moon, and this influence give the India diamond its name.

I'd really appreciate your help here. Thank you in advance!

Answer

Shortening, paraphrasing, and leaving out some ideas:

"There was a superstition about sacred diamonds in India. A similar superstition was once prevalent in ancient Greece and Rome, but it didn't apply to diamonds, it applied a different semiprecious stone. Like the diamonds in India, the stone was supposed to be affected by the moon, so it was called a 'moonstone.'"

"Not applying however (as in India) to a diamond devoted to the service of a god" means "in India, this superstition applied to sacred diamonds, but in ancient Greece and Rome it applied to a different stone."

"In this latter case also, giving the name by which the stone is still known to collectors in our own time" means "first I mentioned diamonds in India. Then I mentioned this different, semiprecious stone. Diamonds in India are the former case. The semiprecious stone is the latter case. In the former case, the stone is affected by the moon, but isn't named after it. In the latter case, not only is the stone affected by the moon, it is named after it."

Answer

I'll try to separate this into shorter sentences and simplify a bit-- it seems like you are already understanding most of it very well! I am assuming that the author is referring to moonstones.

A similar superstition [of the 'moonstone'] was once prevalent in ancient Greece and Rome.

In India, 'moonstone' referred to a diamond devoted to the service of a god.

In Greece and Rome, a 'moonstone' was a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems. (That is, it was a less valuable stone.)

In both cases, this stone was supposed to be affected by the moon, which gave it the name 'moonstone.'

Answers · 4

Still haven’t found your answers?

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!