DIAKON-
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Sep 26 20:39:11 EDT 2002
for George Somsel:
In a message dated 9/26/2002 4:09:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
toseland at blueyonder.co.uk writes:
>On Sep 2002 11:17:54 -0700 (PDT) , Waldo wrote:
>
>>The standard defintion I see on this is generally:
>
>
>>to serve or to wait on tables
>
>
>>Is there any etymological significance to waiting on
>>TABLES? Or, is the idea simply to serve others
>>regardless if they are at a table waiting to eat?
>
>
>>I can see DIAKON- commonly describing what a
>>table-waiter would do (serve others), but WHY this
>>example (wait on tables) and not some other example
>>(wait to assist someone with some task)?
><snip>
>
>I'm afraid I still have neither L&N nor BDAG, so I look
>forward to hearing from someone who has!
>
L&N's references are all to service, even 'humble service' whether that is
waiting on tables or any other service. BDAG is pretty close to BGAD.
The Middle Liddell also has DIAKONHMA which it lists as "servant's
business, service."
gfsomsel
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