I have a slightly different view of the meaning of inform.
The definition you give is for the verb:
Snip
"inform ...v.t. ...3. to give character to; pervade or permeate with
resulting effect on the character: A love of nature informed informed
his writing"
Snip
Informed in this case is not a verb, as you state below (e.g.,
"Informed" is an adjective here:). As an adjective, "informed" is,
amazingly, a different but related word. It means to have
information. As a verb, it has two meanings, the one you mention,
plus the meaning of to give knowledge to, like "inform the accused of
their rights."
That's why it intuitively sounds different to use it as a verb. When
"The love of nature informs the writing", no knowledge is transferred
to the writing, rather, it is, as you say, to give character to.
One could say "historically informed writing", and that to me sounds
wrong, but it still isn't parallel because it refers back to the
writer as a single person, or, rarely, coauthors.. The parallel would
be an event or a group of people at an even, e.g.
historically informed convention--which sounds pretty bad, I think
This differs from a group of people of like mind working on a closely
related, purely literary project, e.g.
historically informed encyclopedia
All of the above would sound fine if informed were used as a verb,
but creaky if used as an adjective, because as in "historically
informed building", no knowledge is transferred to the building.
Another way to look at it is that you can make an informed decision,
but a building cannot.
I still think historically informed encyclopedia is bad English, but
I could sort of make a case for it, but it isn't as bad as
historically informed performance which is missing an antecedent and
is substituting the verb connotation for that ofthe adjective.
The question is, who is doing the informing? "Historically informed
performers" immediately is clear, because they, the performers, have
the information or knowledge. Can a performance have knowledge?
From an advertising perpective, one can of course make the case that
if the phrase has something quirky in the structure, it is somehow
more memorable.
I think the thing I dislike the most is the automatic implication of
modern performers as uninformed.
Historical performance has less of a bite in that regard. Modern
performers aren't claiming to be "historical", but they would be
annoyed at being rendered uninformed.
For sure, most modern players have studied history, and that study
"informs" their peformances, so the term is moot--they use history in
a somewhat different way!
Snip
This is actually the "original" and most intuitive sense of the word
"inform," which is "to give form to"
Snip
The original meaning of the word is derived from the Latin informare
which means to shape, form, train, instruct or educate, so even in
the classical period it did not mean exclusively to give form to.
Earlier than the classical period the etymology is obscure; forma can
also mean beauty, for example. At what point the term "formed" the
English cognate is also unclear, but it would definitely antedate the
classical term which had already produce related words in Latin such
as informatio, which means idea.
dt
On Mar 27, 2010, at 2:38 PM, David Tayler wrote:
> The main reason not to use the phrase is that it is
excruciatingly bad grammar.
* * *
> Performance, of course, is not informed. People are informed. By
extension, I concede the transfer to the action of the person:one
can, of course, make an informed decision. "Make" takes on the
temorary role of a stative verb. And one can have an informed
opinion, again, there is an implied reference to the owner of the
opinion.
> But can one make an informed performance?
"inform ...v.t. ...3. to give character to; pervade or permeate
with resulting effect on the character: A love of nature informed
informed his writing"
From the Random House Dictionary of the English Language,
Unabridged Edition (1968) p. 730
So writing, or a building, or, yes, performance, can be
"informed." This is actually the "original" and most intuitive
sense of the word "inform," which is "to give form to" rather than
the now more common "to impart knowledge." And in this original
sense it is things, not people, that are informed.
> Performance is also not "historically"--performance can be
historic, but that means something very different.
Historically modifies "informed," not "performance."
"Informed" is an adjective here: the performance is described as
being informed in some manner. And if you're going to describe
that adjective (in what way is it informed? what informs it?), you
need an adverb, such as, for example, "historically."
I don't think "performance to which considerations of historical
practice have given character" would have caught on. "PTWCOHPHGC"
makes a lousy acronym, at least in English.
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