From: James H. Vellenga (jhv0@viewlogic.com)
Date: Tue Jun 24 1997 - 09:59:46 EDT
I'm tempted to change the subject line to "Meaning of ANQRWPOS"
but am deferring for the sake of those like to follow the
threads. The ongoing title is a bit misleading at this point.
One of the advantages of following a "forced radical literalism"
-- which I have found myself gradually moving toward -- is that
it forces you to take a hard look at the meaning of the words
that are used frequently in the corpus that you're trying to
translate. In doing so, I have come to the conclusion that
ANQRWPOS is not especially masculine in meaning, and that even
when it is applied to individuals who are of "the masculine
persuasion," it is not their masculinity but their humanity
that is being identified. So while I find myself following
a frequently deprecated methodology, I also find myself moving
toward an agreement (I think) with the kind of meanings that
Nichael himself seems to favor.
Trying to find appropriate English equivalents is fair game
for this list, I think, in that it helps give us insights
into the Greek. I also agree with Stephen Carlson
that the most ordinary English equivalent is "person"/"people".
Sometimes it does seem that ANQRWPOS is being held in
opposition to the numinous or the divine, and then I use
"human" or (with hOI ANTHRWPOI) (did I get the article
right?) "the human race". For hO hUIOS TOU ANQRWPOU, in fact,
I like "The Son of the Human," which for me carries overtones
of Lewis's "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" in his
Narnian Chronicles.
About 15 years ago I reacted with some anger to the
"practicums" that insisted on what seemed at that time to
be "anti-masculine" language. However, American English does
seem to have evolved at this point so that persons (ANQRWPOI)
younger than, say, about 35 no longer regard "man" as a
generic term. C'est la vie.
Regards,
j.v.
James H. Vellenga | jvellenga@viewlogic.com
Viewlogic Systems, Inc. __|__ 508-303-5491
293 Boston Post Road West | FAX: 508-460-8213
Marlboro, MA 01752-4615 |
http://www.viewlogic.com
"We all work with partial information."
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:38:19 EDT