[B-Greek] What we can live with (was papyrus text)
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Sun Apr 12 14:59:15 EDT 2009
Randall egrapse:
no one has commented on the delightful spelling
αιδεξαμην σου τα γραμματα, κυριε μου πατερ,
και πανυ εμεγαλυνθην και ηγαλλειασα
οτει τοιουτος μου πατηρ την μνημην ποιειται
αιδεξαμην = εδεξαμην
ηγαλλειασα = ηγαλλιασα
οτει = οτι
such spelling could have been done anytime after the 3rd century BCE.
First sentury Greeks read both forms the same and a listener
wouldn't even know they're was a spelling irregularity.
If they could live with it so can we. It's a nice feeling to correctly read
AIDEKSAMHN ... HGALLEIASA and OTEI with an ancient writer.
Randall,
I get your point. What we can live with in Greek pronunciation is based on...what?
What we HAVE lived with? It's funny, I can live with conflating alpha and
omicron, even though this has never been done by Greeks, and even though
it should cause as much or more confusion as any other conflation. Why?
Because I have lived with it, from the beginning. People on this list say all the
time that not all Erasmians confuse alpha and omicron but I haven't heard one
yet who does not. My favorite Greek hRHTWR right now is Phemester and
she only makes the distinction on a few words, She says LAWGAWS for
logos but pronounces TO and TA exactly alike, as do most of us. For a while
I tried to get my son to observe the distinction, so he would grown up to be
a better man than his father, but then I gave up, thinking, it's not really worth it.
Pronouncing omicron as AW makes Greek sound even worse, and you can live
with the confusion. Which is exactly your (Buth's) point about itacism and
omicron/omega conflation. But in these instances, I'm sorry, but I CAN'T LIVE
WITH IT. I can't really explain why I can live with TA and TO sounding alike
but not TO and TWi.
If you want to make a convert to Living Koine out of one of the most articulate
defenders of Erasmus out there (me), you are going to have to convince him how
he CAN live with it. Or, more likely, like God, you are just going to have to
wait forty years until this generation of wanderers dies off in the wilderness of
Erasmus. What we can live with is based on what we have lived with.
Mark L
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