[B-Greek] Word enquiry
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Oct 28 16:59:20 EDT 2006
Forwarded for: "Peter Mickelson" <PMICKELSON at sad6.k12.me.us>
Date: October 28, 2006 2:03:57 PM EDT
As an engineer (one who applies ingenuity) it has long been a concern
for me that the word
"technology" -- my very trade -- has become a four-letter word, as in
a recent headline
"Technology's Danger to Children" in which it was made clear that
"technology" actually means
obscene pictures, language, solicitations, movies and other creations
of the mind of man that can
harm young minds -- not in a museum, of course, but only when
accessed over the Internet.
So, I began a hunt to get to the core of this, and discovered (no
surprise) that TECNH and LOGOS
were originally combined to be a vowel encompassing the history (the
word) of what one does
(technique) -- or as one dictionary puts it "what mankind does to
meet its needs and wants."
Well, of course, that's a very limited view also, because any girl
robin knows that her egg will
roll right off the tree branch if she doesn't first create a nest out
of selected architectural
materials, found at her disposal, to create a gravitational potential-
energy well.
Then I turned to Greek dictionaries (my wife and her family are from
Greece) and discovered a
connection between "TEK" and TEC." So, I smacked two rocks together
and guess what? They made the
unique sound "tek!"
Suddenly I could see this little girl, chipping a couple of stones
together -- tek, tek, tek (or
maybe even "TEC, TEC, TEC") and coming up with the first knife
blade. "NH!" she exclaims.
("YESSS!" in today's vernacular) or "I did it!" And ushering in the
Stone Age.
Can any of you follow this deranged reasoning with me, and suggest
any more support that might help
me go back beyond Greek to more ancient times and follow this path?
Language is a symbolic thing,
and I'm betting it has been so since it's conception.
Of course, I also stand open to the humbling academic put-downs that
one so often receives for
their imagination.
Pete Mickelson
<n.p.mickelson at ieee.org>
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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