[B-Greek] The etymology of SKOLIOS
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 3 09:57:44 EDT 2006
I think it is fairly safe to say that etymologies are more often abused than not. When we find etymologies, even in the Bible itself, these are not infrequently of questionable validity. I think of Abram / Abraham as an example. While Abram may well be understood as "exalted father", Abraham cannot really be understood as "a father of many nations / people" as given in Genesis since the word for "people" or "nation" contains an ayin whereas Abraham has a heh. It seems that the tendency is to resort to etymological thinking when it suits one's purpose or when one has nothing more profound to say.
george
gfsomsel
_________
----- Original Message ----
From: CSharp-Online Subscriber <subscriber at csharp-online.net>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Cc: Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 3, 2006 9:39:21 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The etymology of SKOLIOS
Carl has made this point many times over the years--the last example I
recall was the name "Charles"; and, it is well taken. (To use a modern
example of prose (speech?) in which the author is probably both ignorant and
heedless of the etymologies involved is spurious.)
The fact is that many ancient writers were acutely aware of the (supposed)
etymologies and other associations--graphical, mythological, numerical,
phonological, etc.--of names and words and, even, individual letters and
sounds. Further, they often capitalized on them in their writings. And, it
was not uncommon for such texts to be worked and reworked to weave in such
associations--as well as other patterns--to give a text more profound
meanings.
There are many examples and counter examples on both sides of the argument.
But, the point is to use the etymologies for the clarification of texts
which incorporated them. Obviously, it makes little sense to force
associations which were unintended--whether etymological or not. (Actually,
unintended associations do tend to form patterns.)
Etymologies are as easily abused as statistics--and other scientific
methods; but, it does not prevent them from being used legitimately.
Etymologically yours,
Will Wagers
33.23N -97.11W
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Carl W. Conrad
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 4:53 AM
To: gabe coia
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The etymology of SKOLIOS
On Oct 2, 2006, at 4:48 PM, gabe coia wrote:
> B-Greekers, I am trying to ascertain the relationship between
> SKOLIOS and SKELLO. The Complete Word Study Dictionary states that
> the former is directly derived from the latter in the sense of
> being "warped from dryness." Strong's, on the other hand, has it
> that SKOLIOS is directly derived from SKELOS. Could someone clear
> this up for me.
>
> - Gabe Coia (ignoramus maximus)
More often than not, etymology is useless and/or misleading with
regard to actual semantic value of a word in a given context within
the history of a language. Even if you know that the word "saunter"
in a sentence like "He sauntered into his office the next morning
without a care in the world" may possibly be derived from a medieval
French phrase for a crusader, "voyageur a la Sainte Terre," would it
really clarify the sense of the word as used in that sentence
currently? I honestly think that reading a few pages of Plato's
dialogue Cratylus might possibly deter one from devoting a lot of
time to the fascinating but more-or-less fruitless game of
etymological speculation.
...
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