Re: ERWS
Maurice A. O'Sullivan (mauros@iol.ie)
Sun, 02 Nov 1997 15:53:45 +0000
At 06:32 02/11/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>Re: Erws
>
>At least in Homer, ERWS can mean to lust after, to desire. In Homer's Iliad,
>3.442, ERWS is used like this:
>
>"But come, let us take our joy, couched together in love; for never yet hath
>desire (ERWS) so encompassed my soul--nay, not when at the first I snatched
>thee from lovely Lacedaemon and sailed with thee on my seafaring ships..."
>
>I find this interesting, because I had always thought erotic love, at least
>in English, meant "taking our joy, couched together in love". (Incidentally,
>isn't that a wonderful description of sex? Much nicer than "make love",
>"have sex", etc. Save that phrase and use it on your wife in some romantic
>setting...) In this passage, the ERWS refers to the desire, not the
>fulfillment of that desire.
Jonathan:
Could I point out that in Aeschylus' "Agamemnon", at 540, there is a
generalised, non-sexual, use of the word , viz
:
Chorus: Was it yearning for this your fatherland that wore you out?
ERWS PATRWiAS THSDE GHS S' EYUMNASEN?
It's woth reiterating your rightful praise for these marvellous tools,
because without them I would have had some eye-straining perusal of the
printed L.S.J to find that GUMNAZW, literally to "exercise naked" also has
the metaphorical meaning, " wear out, etc. "
Regards,
Maurice