[B-Greek] Perilanguage, not Metalanguage (was "Fear of fear - 1Pe 3:6")
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun May 2 12:02:25 EDT 2010
On May 2, 2010, at 11:23 AM, Mark Lightman wrote:
> Carl wrote:
>
> <But I'd be willing to coin a new term for it: "perilanguage" -- which I
> would define
> as "a roundabout way of explaining what a location
> communicates in meaning.">
>
> Yes, Carl, I am willing to accept this term which I like very much. Just remember
> that a Peri-language is a Peri-dialect with an army and a navy led by Admiral Peary.
Are you sure that Admiral Peary isn't another dead grammarian? I don't know about his grammar (especially when backed up by army and navy), but the grapevine says that he hasn't been with us since 1920.
For what it's worth, I think we've said that translations are "commentary" -- and I guess that "Perilanguage" means the same thing as "commentary. But I like the ring/"klang" of "Perilanguage" better.
Carl W. Conrad
> ________________________________
> From: Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
> Sent: Sun, May 2, 2010 9:10:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Perilanguage, not Metalanguage (was "Fear of fear - 1Pe 3:6")
>
> On May 2, 2010, at 10:07 AM, Mark Lightman wrote:
>> Today's Modern Greek leaves the noun out and picks up
>> on the MNDEMIAN: φοβουνταν τιποτε (FOBOUNTAN TIPOTE.)
>> "They feared nothing, they were afraid of nothing at all."
>> τιποτε in Modern Greek can mean "nothing" or "anything," but that
>> is implicit already in the classical meaning. "They fear...what, pray
>> tell me?" "What in the world did they ever fear...nothing at all."
>>
>> We have a similar idiom in English where "He don't know jack"
>> means the same as "He knows jack."
>>
>> They feared bupkes. They were afraid to the extent of beans.
>> They feared not a whit. These chicas feared nada.
>
> Thanks, Mark. You have neatly illustrated what you meant with your assertion that TMG (probably better than other Neo-Hellenic versions such as Vamvas, which has και μη φοβουμεναι μηδεμιαν πτοησιν KAI MH FOBOUMENAI MHDEMIAN PTOHSIN, unchanged from the GNT) is, after the LXX, the best "metalanguage" for NT Koine Greek. Your accounting certainly does help one to understand the sense of the original text in 1 Peter 3:6, characterizing the usage in terms of comparable expressions in other langauges.
>
> Of course, that's really not the same thing that we ordinarily mean by a "metalanguage" that offers a grammatical accounting for how and why the locution communicates its meaning. But I'd be willing to coin a new term for it: "perilanguage" -- which I would define as "a roundabout way of explaining what a location communicates in meaning."
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