etymology and meaning
after being out of action for the last week, I’ve just been catching up on a few highlights from this week in the papers, blogville, radio etc.
One of the most enjoyable blog-posts of the week is Doug Chaplin on etymology. He points out that knowing the etymology of a word isn’t at all the same thing as knowing what it means in context. So when a preacher leans knowlegdeably over the edge of the pulpit and assures you of “what the word really means in Greek”, do not be too quickly convinced (unless they can also give you a full breakdown of the syntax of the sentence, the context of the paragraph, and some wider knowledge of its usage in the vernacular… but hey, that’s a lecture not a sermon)
I love etymology. It’s fascinating to take a trip back through the history of a word and discover how its meaning evolved over time, how words were borrowed and adapted from one language to another, how multiple meanings that now seem completely unrelated were once connected because they shared a meaning way back in the mists of time.
But to base the meaning of an entire philosophy or doctrine on the historical meaning of one word is a misapplication of etymology. THe meaning of a piece of writing isn’t discovered by adding together the meaning of each item of vocabulary. Writing is like knitting – all the stitches have to hang together, and if you drop even one stitch, the whole thing unravels.
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Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
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Having been retreating for a week have only just caught up with your poorliness – but trust you are feeling more human now.
You’ll not be surprised that I’m an etymology fan too (having recovered from childhood confusion re studying words Vs studing insects) – and am so sad that our children no longer get to play about with Latin to explore the origins of so many words…But this (and Doug’s post) are also deeply consoling for those of us who, training via courses, were never offered the chance to do Greek or Hebrew at all.
Hear, hear. The etymological fallacy is one of my pet hates, and it occurs not only in biblical studies and theology, but in all spheres of debate.
You’d probably know this, Maggi, but for anyone else, the definitive work on this (in biblical studies) is James Barr’s The Semantics of Biblical Language. Biblical Words and Their Meaning by Moises Silva (Barr’s student) is also a useful scholarly work on the subject.
I hope you’re now feeling better too