hummingwolf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hummingwolf) wrote2005-07-10 12:49 pm
hummingwolf) wrote2005-07-10 12:49 pm
γνώσις
Although I attended the University of Maryland as a linguistics major, I went through the first year there without studying any non-English language at all. After five full years of Spanish in middle school and high school, I'd been burned out from dealing with someone in my senior year who could have been an excellent teacher if she hadn't been trying so hard to convert us all to her way of thinking about everything. One of the few teachers I had who did not like me, she really did not like me at all. (All these years later, bitca, and I still don't like your attitude, mmkay?)
Anyway, when registering for sophomore year of college, I decided it was a good time to start learning ancient Greek. Took classes in it four semesters running, and did well, all things considered. Those things I'm considering include the fact that Greek never felt like a language to me, but always seemed just like something to be decoded. Though it was a nifty code, I eventually went back to studying Spanish and forgot very nearly all the Greek I'd ever learned.
For some reason this weekend, I needed to remember the ancient version of a famous phrase as it had been taught to me. First I Googled the transliteration I remembered, only to find early results from people who were convinced that that was the wrong version of the phrase. Theosophists in particular seem to love to use the uncontracted version. Silly Theosophists.
So after the decision to stick with the contraction, it was down to "γνώθι σ'αυτόν" vs. "γνώθι σαυτόν". Unsure whether the apostrophe replacing the epsilon was preferred or not, I did a bit of Googling again. As it turns out, the apostrophe-free version is more common on pages written in Greek. The more popular spelling would usually get my vote, but these are speakers of modern Greek rendering an ancient saying; and although Greek is a remarkably slow-changing language, it still does change. (One of my Greek classes consisted of me, another American woman, and a Greek man. The Greek guy dropped out halfway through the semester because the class was too hard.) After all the searching, I'm sticking with the apostrophe solely because I like it that way.
A motto of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi and a favorite saying of Socrates, "γνώθι σ'αυτόν" is translated "know thyself." I know myself to be a geek.
Anyway, when registering for sophomore year of college, I decided it was a good time to start learning ancient Greek. Took classes in it four semesters running, and did well, all things considered. Those things I'm considering include the fact that Greek never felt like a language to me, but always seemed just like something to be decoded. Though it was a nifty code, I eventually went back to studying Spanish and forgot very nearly all the Greek I'd ever learned.
For some reason this weekend, I needed to remember the ancient version of a famous phrase as it had been taught to me. First I Googled the transliteration I remembered, only to find early results from people who were convinced that that was the wrong version of the phrase. Theosophists in particular seem to love to use the uncontracted version. Silly Theosophists.
So after the decision to stick with the contraction, it was down to "γνώθι σ'αυτόν" vs. "γνώθι σαυτόν". Unsure whether the apostrophe replacing the epsilon was preferred or not, I did a bit of Googling again. As it turns out, the apostrophe-free version is more common on pages written in Greek. The more popular spelling would usually get my vote, but these are speakers of modern Greek rendering an ancient saying; and although Greek is a remarkably slow-changing language, it still does change. (One of my Greek classes consisted of me, another American woman, and a Greek man. The Greek guy dropped out halfway through the semester because the class was too hard.) After all the searching, I'm sticking with the apostrophe solely because I like it that way.
A motto of the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi and a favorite saying of Socrates, "γνώθι σ'αυτόν" is translated "know thyself." I know myself to be a geek.
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