Skip to main content

more fun with etymology

From the Greek Wiktionary definition for φατικός,

Ο Πολωνός ανθρωπολόγος που εισήγαγε τον όρο το 1900, ορμόμενος από λέξεις όπως εμφατικός και αποφαντικός, θεώρησε ότι η λέξη που προτίμησε προέρχεται από το φαίνω (καθιστώ φανερό, φέρνω στο φως), ενώ άλλοι θεωρούν ετυμολογικά ότι η λέξη είναι πιο συγγενής με τον τύπο φατός (και φατειός) του ρήματος φημί, όπως το αποφατικός.

Which Google translates to:

The Polish anthropologist who introduced the term in 1900, ormomenos words as emphatic and deliberative considered that the word preferred from the seems (I make clear, I bring to light), while others consider etymologically the word is more akin to the type fatou (and fateios) and the verb fimios, like apophatic.

That's interesting, and mostly confirms what we already know.  The one hint at the end that's a bit new is the term αποφατικός, which Wiktionary says "expresses refusal."  The antonym of that term is καταφατικός, which affirms, says yes, or agrees.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The plot thickens (with Herbert Spencer)

In a paper attempting to outline the conceptual domain of comparative psychology , Herbert Spencer discusses the quality of impulsiveness in relation with human races (bearded and unbearded). Among his "sundry questions of interests" about the relationship between mental energy, evolution, complexity, etc. are the following notes: ( b ) What connection is there between this trait and the social state? Clearly a very explosive nature - such as that of the Bushman - is unfit for social; and, commonly, social union, when by any means established, checks impulsiveness. ( c ) What respective shares in checking impulsiveness are taken by the feelings which the social state fosters - such as the fear of surrounding individuals, the instinct of sociality , the desire to accumulate property, the sympathetic feelings , the sentiment of justice? These, which require a social environment for their development, all of them involve imaginations of consequences more or less distant; and th...

Vitruvius Pollio, The origin of the dwelling house

 Chapter 1 of Book II of "Ten Books on Architecture", available from Project Gutenberg .  Sections 1, 2, and 7 (from the Richard Schofield translation published by Penguin rather than the one here) are quoted on pp. 218-219 of Spheres II by Peter Sloterdijk.  Pay particular attention to Section 2. 1. The men of old were born like the wild beasts, in woods, caves, and groves, and lived on savage fare. As time went on, the thickly crowded trees in a certain place, tossed by storms and winds, and rubbing their branches against one another, caught fire, and so the inhabitants of the place were put to flight, being terrified by the furious flame. After it subsided, they drew near, and observing that they were very comfortable standing before the warm fire, they put on logs and, while thus keeping it alive, brought up other people to it, showing them by signs how much comfort they got from it. In that gathering of men, at a time when utterance of sound was purely individual,...