[B-Greek] ORQOTOMEW in 2 Tim 2:15
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Apr 10 06:49:17 EDT 2006
I would commend to fellow B-Greekers the sequence of blog entries by
Suzanne McCarthy and Richard Rhodes extending over the course of
several days from an original post on March 26 and extending,
somewhat sporadically, through today (April 10). We've had threads on
this verse and this word before (see the archives, if you're
interested), but this has been a fascinating exploration of word-
usage and contexts, an illuminating exposition of perils of
etymologizing and the importance of contextual and historical probing
of word-usage history. One central problem has been understanding the
significance of the TOM- root (verb TEMNW and its cognates) in this
compound and taking it back to what is evidently the original
metaphor involved, namely that of roadbuilding. Certainly the old
traditional "rightly dividing the word of truth" is clearly wrong,
while "getting to the point ..." is more apt. Jaspers says of myths
that they can't be replaced by philosophical or scientific
formulations but only by more suitable myths, and I think that one
great difficulty in translation is dealing with metaphors in the
source language that can't be converted into the same metaphors in
the target language. I wonder, however, whether "cut" can't survive
in another metaphor that might fit the context of 2 Tim 2:15,
"cutting to the core ..."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list