Etymologiae (Re-Post)

 Tomorrow is the feast of St. Isidore of Seville, so here is a re-post (slightly revised) from 2019.

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I was looking at Isidore's Etymologiae today and had an insight into the medieval practice of etymologia. I've noted before that it's a mistake to overhistoricize what the medievals were doing with their etymologies. For us, etymology is a historical reconstruction, but while the medievals thought there was some kind of rough historical connection, the medievals aren't trying to reconstruct the history. For them, etymologia is not a historical origin, per se, but an imperfect definition -- it is a definition-like thing, not a history-like thing, that falls short of the full conditions for a good definition. In particular, if you are giving the etymologia of a word, you are defining it (imperfectly) in terms of similar words.

Now, this is to us an odd thing to take seriously; why would there be any particular importance in using similar words? If we were doing it in English, it would usually be a game. Nonetheless, you still can find cases here and there where it's obviously relevant. I've noted before it's actually essential to understanding 'parameter' that people in colloquial English take parameters to establish perimeters, even though the only reason for this is that 'parameter' and 'perimeter' are similar words. English is a blocky language, so it's even easier to see in common phrases than in particular words: the common misuse of the original technical term 'begging the question' is inevitable, and even people who insist on keeping the technical meaning will often, if you ask what the phrase means, try to fit the 'begging' in somehow, even though it's only there due to an oddly strong and overliteral translation of the Latin petitio, not because it has anything to do with begging as such. The use of the word 'begging' creates, however, an almost irresistible attraction toward explanation in terms of begging, and almost certainly influences how the phrase is actually used.

But, of course, the medievals were not thinking in terms of English but in terms of Latin and (sometimes) Greek. And, structurally, what is Latin like? It consists of roots, prefixes, suffixes, case endings, and the like, and shortened forms are actually fairly common. So what St. Isidore is doing is just rationally extrapolating this to the limit, and proceeding on the assumption that every non-basic Latin word consists of further roots. All Latin words break up into little bits anyway; lots of those little bits obviously contribute to the meaning; it at least raises the question what the other little bits might be doing.

So, for instance, Isidore's etymology for gladius, sword, is gulam dividere, splitting the throat. What is his reasoning? He's not merely playing a word game. As he sees it, gladius breaks up into smaller elements:

g(*)la
di

The component g(*)la is shared with gula; the component di is shared with dividere -- and, indeed, it is found in lots of Latin words that have something to do with dividing. So we get gulam dividere; and since it makes sense to think of a sword as a throat-splitter, he takes that we have here come up with a plausible candidate for more basic words using the same components that capture the meaning of gladius at least roughly. (And Isidore is never really dogmatic about his etymologies, often willing to propose alternatives, although some of his proposals are so catchy that once he proposes them they become how people think of the original words anyway.)

A bigger stretch is spes, which he explains as pes progrediendi. Spes and pes obviously share a component; so to make sense of how this component in 'foot' can apply to 'hope' as well, we need to ask, "What hope-like things does a foot do?" And Isidore's answer is the obvious one: it moves forward.

Completeness, Action, Beauty

 Diversity of statuses and offices in the Church pertains to three things. The very first, to completeness of the Church itself. For just as in the order of natural things, completeness, which in God is found simply and uniformly, in the universe of creatures is not able to be found except differently and plurally, so also the fullness of grace, which in Christ as in the head is united, to the members overflows in many ways, so that the body of the Church may be complete. And this is what the Apostle says, Eph. 4: He gave some as apostles, some as  prophets, others as evangelists, and others as shepherds and teachers, to the fulfillment of the saints. 

And secondly it pertains to the the necessity of the actions which are necessary in the Church. For it is fitting for diverse actions to be deputed to diverse men, in order that all may be accomplished readily and without confusion. And this is what the Apostle says, Rom. 12: As in one body we have many members, and all members do not have one act, so we many are one in Christ.

And thirdly, it pertains to the the dignity and beauty of the Church, which consists in a certain order. Wherefore it is said, 1 Kgs 10, that the Queen of Sheba on seeing the wisdom of Solomon, and the rooms of his servants, and the orders of his ministers, had no more spirit. Wherefore also the apostle says, 2 Tim. 2, that in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.

[Aquinas, Summa Theologiae 2-2.183.2 corpus, my rough translation.]

Where the Fool Remains Forever and the April Comes No More

 The Aristocrat
by G. K. Chesterton 

 The Devil is a gentleman, and asks you down to stay
At the little place at What'sitsname (it isn't far away).
They say the sport is splendid; there is always something new,
And fairy scenes, and fearful feats that none but he can do;
He can shoot the feathered cherubs if they fly on the estate,
Or fish for Father Neptune with the mermaids for a bait;
He scaled amid the staggering stars that precipice, the sky,
And blew his trumpet above heaven, and got by mastery
The starry crown of God Himself, and shoved it on the shelf;
But the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn't brag himself. 

 O blind your eyes and break your heart and hack your hand away,
And lose your love and shave your head; but do not go to stay
At the little place in What'sitsname where folks are rich and clever;
The golden and the goodly house, where things grow worse for ever;
There are things you need not know of, though you live and die in vain,
There are souls more sick of pleasure than you are sick of pain;
There is a game of April Fool that's played behind its door,
Where the fool remains for ever and the April comes no more
Where the splendour of the daylight grows drearier than the dark,
And life droops like a vulture that once was such a lark:
And that is the Blue Devil that once was the Blue Bird;
For the Devil is a gentleman, and doesn't keep his word.

Admin Note

 About a year ago, I switched commenting systems; Disqus had become increasing bloated and unpleasant to use, so I switched to Commento, which had the advantage of being relatively cheap and, compared to Disqus, massively easier and quicker to load. As a transitional thing it worked well enough, but it quickly became clear that there was inadequate support and it would occasionally go rather inconsistent. Unfortunately, it has grown increasingly inconsistent in the past month or so, to the extent that it is very unpredictable. And I've occasionally been locked out of comments myself recently. Commento wasn't expensive, but I'm certainly not paying for a third-party commenting platform in order not to have access to the commenting system. So it's definitely time to move on.

And it is as tricky a matter as one might expect; most of the commenting systems out there are either absurdly expensive (obviously for businesses rather than little blogging endeavors) or overloaded (with indefinite waiting lists) or are obviously lacking in other ways. After some research, I've decided to try CommentBox for a while. Because Commento is acting up, I'm not sure I'll be able to import any Commento comments, so if you were extraordinarily proud of some comment you left in the past year, I apologize, I guess, since it might be lost to all but the omniscience of God.

It allows for simple Markdown (*italic* for italic, **bold** for bold, > for blockquote). Replies to comments are not particularly good, I'm afraid, although there is a little icon near the name for the comment which if clicked gives a menu by which you can reply to a comment (which in practice, I think, just means that it puts it below the comment to which you are replying and lets those who have clicked the box for emailed replies get a notification.). Comments can be edited for about eight minutes after posting.  It requires sign-in (by social media or email) but once you've signed in, there's a little box you can click to post anonymously, and another if you want emailed replies. As with Commento, it will only be on the web version. (I'm sure there's a way it could be done on the mobile site, but the problem is that it would require extensive experimentation with figuring out how to put the relevant snippets in the HTML, and Blogger does not make that easy anymore.) We'll see how it does with spam (which is not as big a problem as it once was, but still occasionally causes problems); the moderation options are not particularly extensive, but as it's a roughly-free commenting service for the moment (it only costs if you get above a certain number of comments a month, a number that I have not reached in a few years now). 

Let me know if it gives you trouble.

Say the Word

 The whole span of my life disperses and vanishes vainly in the confusion of the vanities of this world. And because I have not even desired, for a single hour, to prepare myself for tackling work in the spiritual vineyard, I do not expect to receive the wage prepared for the just. But, for the hidden wounds of my sins, I ask forgiveness from you, unworthy though I am. And because of this, before I stand before your frightful judgment seat and am found guilty of my crimes by your just judgment, say the word, and I will be healed by your mercies: O Friend of mankind, glory to you!

[From the Basilica Hymn for the Fifth Week of Lent, in The Book of Before and After: The Liturgy of the Hours of the Church of the East, Fr. Andrew Younan, ed. and tr., The Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC: 2024), p. 483.]

Links of Note

 * Rebekah Wallace, Legacy of angels, at "Aeon"

* Chris Pruett, Divine Command Theory, Robust Normative Realism, and the Argument from Psychopathy: A Reply to Erik Wielenberg (PDF)

* Andrew Chignell and Derk Pereboom, Natural Theology and Natural Religion, at the SEP

* Jean-Luc Solère & Nicholas Westberg, Descartes on God and Duration, Revisited (PDF)

* Louis Daoust reviews Deborah Boyle's Mary Shepherd: A Guide.

* Austen McDougal, Loving Your Enemy (PDF)

* Edmund Waldstein, Happiness as the Principle of Ethics, Law, and Rights, at "The Josiah"

* Nevim Borçin, Rethinking Natural Slavery in Aristotle (PDF)

* Kailani B., I Am Not the Main Character in Fictional Stories, at "Damsel in the Library"

* Sofia Calvente, Hierarchy of Beings and Equality of Men and Women in Catherine Trotter Cockburn (PDF)

* Edward Feser, A Catholic Defense of Enforcing Immigration Laws, at "Public Discourse"

* Michelle Kassorla and Eugenia Novokshanova, If Academic Neutral Isn't Dead Yet, It Soon Will Be, at "The Multimodal AI Project"

* Sue Curry Jansen and Jeff Pooley, For this unsung philosopher, metaphors make life an adventure, on Susanne Langer, at "Psyche"

* David Schleicher and Nicholas Bagley, The state capacity crisis, at Niskanen Center

* Victoria, The Anglo-Latin haibun, at "Horace & friends"

* Hilarius Bookbinder, The average college student today, at "Scriptorium Philosophica". The description is recognizable, although, of course, the degree to which it fits is variable; and complaints of this sort are very common among college professors. The problem, of course, is that by the point students get to college, all the damage is already done, and only the most motivated students will be able to correct course by this point. And, contrary to almost every bloviator with an easy solution, the problems are so pervasive and across so many domains that they quite obviously cannot be monocausal. Yes, phones are a serious problem, but students also generally don't have sufficient reading skills, which directly implies that they haven't read enough to develop the reading skills, since that's the only way one develops them, and something similar is true of basic writing and arithmetical skills; they often haven't been socialized enough to hold themselves to basic obligations or courtesies, and they sometimes take trying to bluff and fake their way through anything difficult to a truly extraordinary level, and, perhaps worst of all, they are extremely inclined to give up at the first serious challenge, to such an extent that they will fail to make use of second chance opportunities even when they need them. All of these problems are regular complaints, and none of them can be due entirely to the same thing. (I think a lot of them are tied to the fact that many students have never really been challenged before, as modern teenagers often don't have a wide range of opportunities for doing challenging things or incentive for using the opportunities they do have, but this is not a single problem, either.) 

It's also true, of course, that there are many students who don't have these problems, or at least don't have them so severely as to damage their ability to get through just fine; but if you're not already that sort of student, there is no way to solve such problems on the fly in a college course. The closest one can get on the professor side is just to design the course in such a way that students are forced to do things in their head like memorization and analysis instead of trying to google answers, and required to do things in full view, like reading, that we have often just left to the discretion of the student; that is, one can bring directly into the class the sorts of things that they should be doing outside the class. But there's only so much time, and only so far one can go in doing this; almost everything substantial in higher education, necessarily and inevitably, depends on the initiative and self-instruction of the student. That's the whole point of it; college teachers are only there to give you resources and assistance in doing the learning yourself, not to try futilely to shove things into your head while you're scrolling the internet.

Of course, lest we be unfair, it is worth noting that many professors are idiots and stupidly think that they are brilliant at teaching because their college has a good pre-selection process in which the particular students who end up in their classes don't need much teaching in order to learn. And you get the common problem of the Myth of the Method, in which college teachers think that if only they have the right method, which must exist somewhere out there, all problems are solved. And you get the tech-hounds who think that the obvious problem is that professors are Luddites who can't get with the times, and who repeatedly ignore the very large amount of evidence that none of their tech solutions actually have the extraordinary results they claim, and sometimes have worse results than the old-fashioned technology of pen-and-paper. Perhaps it's not surprising that the problems are so complicated when so many people keep making them worse.

The Divine Guru

The Divine Guru is our mother, the Divine Guru is our father;
the Divine Guru is our Lord and Master, the Transcendent Lord.
The Divine Guru is my companion, the Destroyer of ignorance;
the Divine Guru is my relative and brother.
The Divine Guru is the Giver, the Teacher of the Lord’s Name.
The Divine Guru is the Mantra which never fails.
The Divine Guru is the image of peace, truth and wisdom.
The Divine Guru is the Philosopher’s Stone -- touching it, one is transformed.
The Divine Guru is the sacred shrine of pilgrimage, and the pool of divine nectar;
bathing in the Guru’s wisdom, one experiences the Infinite. 
The Divine Guru is the Creator, and the Destroyer of all sins;
the Divine Guru is the Purifier of sinners. 
The Divine Guru existed in the very beginning, throughout the ages, in each and every age.
The Divine Guru is the Mantra of the Lord’s Name; chanting it, one is saved.
O God, please be merciful to me, so that I may be with the Divine Guru;
I am a foolish sinner, but holding onto Him, I will be carried across.
The Divine Guru is the True Guru, the Supreme Lord God, the Transcendent Lord;
Nanak bows in humble reverence to the Lord, the Divine Guru.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib 262