[B-Greek] Fwd: Question Regarding John 4:11 kurios
cwestf5155 at aol.com
cwestf5155 at aol.com
Sat Sep 2 15:48:15 EDT 2006
Elizabeth,
This is an interesting issue, and probably has something to do with the difficulties in our perceptions of "Mr.". There probably aren't equivalents to the title DESPOINA in my dialect partially because semantic domain of leadership interfaces with a democratic-republic framework and my culture has moved toward inclusive informal ways of relating. Furthermore, given the fact that goddess worship has either been eliminated or underground in western culture, I don't think I have a positive honorific title for a goddess that isn't archaic--there probably is one now, but it isn't mainstream.
It reminds me of the first female US ambassador's line "Call me madam!" That doesn't work on so many levels.
Maybe something like "sovereign" or especially "regent" would work. I doubt we will find a female specific word that would have the right blend of authority without negative connotations.
Cindy Westfall
McMaster Divinity College
-----Original Message-----
From: kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
To: B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sat, 2 Sep 2006 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Fwd: Question Regarding John 4:11 kurios
On Sep 2, 2006, at 9:31 AM, cwestf5155 at aol.com wrote:
> I don't know why the idea that "Sarah didn't just just say 'Mister'
> to Abraham" is an a priori assumption, or maybe again, it is an
> issue of the perceived semantic range of both KURIOS and "Mister"
> and also how English has changed.
>
> "Mister" has been used to indicate honor and respect in English--
> so some parents still train their children to refer to a friend as
> "Mr. Jones" rather than by their first name. There was an old-
> fashioned practice where spouses also referred to each other as
> "Mr." and "Mrs." as a sign of respect and where a titled wife might
> refer to her spouse as "Lord..." or by his last name alone which
> had an honorific association--and Abraham's high status would
> overlap here--after all, Sarah was called "princess".
>
> Such uses of "Mr." are clearly shifting, though I think we
> recognize it when we see it.
>
> Titles that indicate honor and respect collocate with authority,
> but the use of KURIOS does not always convey authority, so that is
> not part of its minimal definition--it has to be inferred from the
> context.
Cindy,
This reminds me of another title which is difficult to render into
current English.
DESPOINA the feminine equivalent of DESPOTHS is used with the names
of goddesses.
Lady Artemis or Mistress Artemis both fail to communicate in
contemporary English. Do we have a term for a female in a position of
authority which could serve for DESPOINA? Queen Artemis doesn't
really work either.
Elizabeth Kline
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