[B-Greek] blogger = POLULALOS?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Oct 5 07:39:49 EDT 2008


Yep, I just saw this little item on the "ricoblog":

http://www.supakoo.com/rick/ricoblog/2008/10/04/TheresAGreatBlogNamePiomicronlambdaupsilonlambdaalphalambdaomicronsigmaf.aspx
= http://tinyurl.com/5ycbl7

Not etymologically, but "spiritually" cognate with neo-English "blog"  
is the older English word "blather" (said to be derived from Old Norse  
"blathru" meaning "nonsense" -- which my dictionary defines as "long- 
winded talk with no real substance"

Some bloggers do seem to spew forth immediately whatever idle notions  
enter their heads; on the other hand, more thoughtful ones seem to  
wait until they have something significant to say -- and those are  
worth noting. Pericles, according to Thucydides (2.40) said of the  
Athenians, φιλοκαλοῦμέν τε γὰρ μετ'  
εὐτελείας καὶ φιλοσοφοῦμεν ἄνευ  
μαλακίας [FILOKALOUMEN TE GAR MET' EUTELEIAS KAI FILOSOFOUMEN  
ANEU MALAKIAS]. Methinks that the boast of much of blogdom might more  
accurately be φιλολαλοῦμεν μετ’ ἀτελείας  
[FILOLALOUMEN MET' ATELEIAS], loosely Englished as "we blather."

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)




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