[Taxacom] Vale Don Colless: 1922-2012

[Eric Zurcher]

On 24/02/2012 10:41 AM, Bob Mesibov wrote:
> Don's contributions and off-list correspondence were sparkling and erudite, and I'll miss them.
>
> His signature line 'Tuz li munz est miens envirun' looks like 'All the world is my neighbourhood'. Does anyone know what language or dialect that is, or if it quotes a famous work? It reminds me of John Wesley's 'All the world is my parish'.
It appears to have been taken from the poem "La vie et la mort de saint 
Thomas de Cantorbery," by Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence, dating from 
the end of the 12th century. See 
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bec_0373-6237_1843_num_4_1_451709 
for the text, with a modern French translation. Thomas of Canterbury is 
perhaps better known as Thomas Becket, the "turbulent priest" of Henry II.

Eric Zurcher
CSIRO Plant Industry