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Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

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Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#231

Post by tremon »

v4dok wrote: post #136
tony_cannistra wrote: post #8

I have been several times confused by the word "arete" - because in French (arête) it's a kind of rock formation and has been taken up by the rock climbing community, and in Greek (ἀρετή) it's "excellence." There's a coffee shop near me, attached to and co-operated by a climbing gear store, called arête. The proximity to the climbing store suggests one interpretation, but it is an excellent coffee shop.

Αρετή is more than excellence. Philosophers of the time go quite in length about its meaning, its a mix of excellence, honour, good, nobiety(?). I admittedly have hard time finding exact synonyms in english, but the point is that αρετή according to I think Aristoteles (need fact checking) is the ultimate virtue to strive for.

Excellent is a perfectly usable translation, if you extend it to the Bill&Ted interpretation: "be excellent to each other". It's just that excellent tends to be used in a much narrower way in present-day English.

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#232

Post by _a_a_a_ »

nonethewiser wrote: post #189
afunk wrote: post #115

From a fun book I have “Philosophy in 40 Ideas” Eudaimonia THIS IS AN ANCIENT GREEK WORD, normally translated as 'fulfilment', particularly emphasised by the philosopher Aristotle. It deserves wider currency because it corrects the shortfalls in one of the most central terms in our contemporary idiom: happiness. The Ancient Greeks resolutely did not believe that the purpose of life was to be happy; they proposed that…

I fully agree with you but I do think many people are just speaking generally when they talk about wanting to live a happy life. Obviously one should not always be happy. You shouldn't be happy at a funeral. You should also have cause to go to a funeral (having friends, family, etc.). You should also do things you might hate or cause pain because long term they are good. Studying, running, etc. Life if full of these…

> You shouldn't be happy at a funeral

Shouldn't I? I suspect you're just unthinkingly exporting cultural expectations you've absorbed. I don't believe all cultures treat funerals as necessarily sad occasions, and I really don't like being told what I should feel by someone else (although I realise you probably didn't mean it that way).

(small edit)

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#233

Post by pyridines »

hnick wrote: post #118
pyridines wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard a regional English construction for this: "needs X'd". For your examples: - The pull request needs reviewed - The trash needs emptied - The dog needs walked Just one(ish) extra syllable!

They might be just removing "to be", that's what I love about English you can break and abuse it and it still mostly makes sense. You could even drop the "the" and "-ed" from those phrases and most people would still understand what you mean by "dog needs walk".

yeah, they are just dropping "to be". But "dog needs walk" sounds wrong, whereas "the dog needs walked" sounds normal to the people who use it. I don't know whether there is a reason almost nobody says "dog needs walk", but I don't know much about linguistics :)

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#234

Post by aap_ »

obfuscator wrote: post #153

Ancient Greek was one of the best courses I had in university. It changed my view on language and western thinking quite a lot. My favorite words are μαθηματικὴ (mathematike): If I remember correctly, it means 1. learning, 2. letter or book and 3. "everything there is to know (for certain)". χαίρε (chaire): Used as a greeting, literally "be happy!" Also it is funny that βαίνω (baino) means: I am walking, while "Bein"…

βαίνω and Bein are completely unrelated. "kommen" (and english "come") are related to βαίνω.

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#237

Post by lioeters »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #140
afunk wrote: post #115

From a fun book I have “Philosophy in 40 Ideas” Eudaimonia THIS IS AN ANCIENT GREEK WORD, normally translated as 'fulfilment', particularly emphasised by the philosopher Aristotle. It deserves wider currency because it corrects the shortfalls in one of the most central terms in our contemporary idiom: happiness. The Ancient Greeks resolutely did not believe that the purpose of life was to be happy; they proposed that…

Eudaimonia means “good demons.” Plato used it to refer to the source of Socrates’ inspiration. Etymology of daimon might have it mean the apportioners, dividers or rationers. “With artificial intelligence we are summoning the demon” — Elon Musk Let’s hope for good demons! I’ve been thinking about it lately, and in a world that many believe is filled with intelligence and consciousness at different levels, it might ma…

> During the event, we introduce a version of GPT that has been trained on the complete works of Plato and other esoteric texts, and invite attendees to ask deep questions of Plato. Our AI generates new dialogues in response, offering a unique opportunity to explore the value of dialectic between AI and esoteric philosophy.

That is brilliant. It's so refreshing to hear of Neoplatonism and Hermetic Philosophy, not just for historical study but as a living stream of thought and inspiration. People seem to forget that the roots of science is magic.

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#238

Post by sph »

_a_a_a_ wrote: post #232
nonethewiser wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree with you but I do think many people are just speaking generally when they talk about wanting to live a happy life. Obviously one should not always be happy. You shouldn't be happy at a funeral. You should also have cause to go to a funeral (having friends, family, etc.). You should also do things you might hate or cause pain because long term they are good. Studying, running, etc. Life if full of these…

> You shouldn't be happy at a funeral Shouldn't I? I suspect you're just unthinkingly exporting cultural expectations you've absorbed. I don't believe all cultures treat funerals as necessarily sad occasions, and I really don't like being told what I should feel by someone else (although I realise you probably didn't mean it that way). (small edit)

Good observation. As someone raised in a Catholic country, I am still weirded out by the Protestant idea to get together after a funeral to mourn, mingle and eat. (I'm not even sure what you call that)

In my mind mourning is a very private and too sad an event to have people around, and there is bound to be cultures where mourning is cause to celebrate, have fun, and enjoy life in all of its beauty.

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#239

Post by Vedor »

sph wrote: post #238
_a_a_a_ wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You shouldn't be happy at a funeral Shouldn't I? I suspect you're just unthinkingly exporting cultural expectations you've absorbed. I don't believe all cultures treat funerals as necessarily sad occasions, and I really don't like being told what I should feel by someone else (although I realise you probably didn't mean it that way). (small edit)

Good observation. As someone raised in a Catholic country, I am still weirded out by the Protestant idea to get together after a funeral to mourn, mingle and eat. (I'm not even sure what you call that) In my mind mourning is a very private and too sad an event to have people around, and there is bound to be cultures where mourning is cause to celebrate, have fun, and enjoy life in all of its beauty.

That's interesting.

I was born and raised in Poland, a Catholic country, and we do gather after the funeral to mourn and eat together. However, apparently this custom dates back to Slavic times – this may explain the difference between our experiences.

Re: Ancient Greek terms worth reviving

#240

Post by sph »

Vedor wrote: post #239
sph wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good observation. As someone raised in a Catholic country, I am still weirded out by the Protestant idea to get together after a funeral to mourn, mingle and eat. (I'm not even sure what you call that) In my mind mourning is a very private and too sad an event to have people around, and there is bound to be cultures where mourning is cause to celebrate, have fun, and enjoy life in all of its beauty.

That's interesting. I was born and raised in Poland, a Catholic country, and we do gather after the funeral to mourn and eat together. However, apparently this custom dates back to Slavic times – this may explain the difference between our experiences.

And I'm from Italy. Perhaps it's not a religious difference, but just cultural.
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