Why do etymology at all?

George Blaisdell maqhth at hotmail.com
Tue Jul 27 12:13:45 EDT 1999





>From: "David

>I LOVE etymology, but do bear in mind the caveats above [or try
>to.]

Me too.  Talk about an unbearable burden!  That love [etymology] for most 
list members is probably in the same obsessive category as love for booze is 
to criminal defense lawyers.  We really do need an inner armed guard!  :-)

>One etymological gem [for me] is Judas' moneybag, or     >GLWSSOKOMON, 
>originally the wind player's tongue or reed bag.

Well, you know, in most parts of the world I have visited, a bag of money is 
a very 'common tongue', holding musical reeds [coins] understood easily by 
all, and thus will forever provide me with the etymological mnemonic for 
this 'tongue-bag' of the truely 'overburdened' Judas. [My armed guard took a 
nap!]

>Doesn't tell you anything about the meaning in John 12:6, but it is a
>fascinating little tit-bit, all the same.

I had missed it, and I love it ~ Thank-you!

>However, when people say METANOEW **only** means to change your mind, 
>that's
>where the problems in etymological study are evident!

Especially given the western mindset, where the understanding and the heart 
are two separated items in our psychological thinking, in a way that simply 
would be unthinkably foreign [imho] to the writers of the GNT.


George Blaisdell
Roslyn, WA


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