[B-Greek] APOLUTRWSIS

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 19 20:47:34 EST 2007


Bert,

I don't think you understand the meaning of "innate."  What you are referencing in no way shows that there are innate meanings to words.  If you think that there are innate meanings to words, then answer the following:  What is the "innate" meaning of "shambles"?  What is the "innate" meaning of "gay"?  What is the "innate" meaning of "to let"?

 
george
gfsomsel
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Bert de Haan <b_dehaan at sympatico.ca>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2007 9:22:56 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] APOLUTRWSIS


"Barry" <nebarry at verizon.net> wrote:


>Shall we follow Plato or Aristotle here?  "Innate" and "elephant" are both 
words
>in English with quite restricted semantic ranges, so that your example 
>really
>doesn't relate.  Would you care to tell me what the innate meanings of the 
>words
>"run" and "scan" are in English?  I am supplying English examples because 
>it
>makes the point better for us native English (or American) speakers than 
>Greek,
>for which it is very difficult for modern students to "feel" the semantic 
>range
>of the word in the same way an ancient would have.
>
>


A while back  Jan Hoogland <hoogland at hawaii.rr.com> offered an article for 
review and comments on B-Greek that deals with this topic quite a bit.
I have not finished it yet but I remembered that he used the example "run" 
to demonstrate that words do have intrinsic meanings.  Here is a quote:

" Compare, for example, the meaning of the word run in the sentences he runs 
a business and he runs a stop sign. The occurrences of the word run in these 
sentences differ in meaning, the difference being induced by the context 
rather than being inherent in the word run itself. Inherent in the word run 
in both contexts is only the idea of moving well.<....snip.....>How can we 
manage by assigning only a single intrinsic meaning to the word run? It is 
possible by noticing that run in itself only generates in the mind a notion 
of moving well. A check on all thirty specific dictionary meanings of the 
verb run reveals that indeed every entry has something to do with moving 
well, some may be farfetched or abstract, but the connection is unmistakable 
in all cases. The context then adds further meaning to the point where we 
arrive at each specific use of run. Note that the context can only add 
meaning to the intrinsic meaning of run, but does not and cannot provide the 
intrinsic meaning itself. This process of assembling the intended meaning of 
a sentence is one of addition rather than one of elimination, as the concept 
of multiple meanings of a word requires. The clarity of meaning of a 
sentence obtained in this way is quite surprising, considering such a large 
variety in usage. The clarity is a consequence of adhering to a single 
intrinsic meaning of a word.<...snip...>An example may show how the mind 
builds up the meaning of a sentence. By slowly reading the sentence: He ran 
the car into the ditch, it will be noticed that ran by itself indicates no 
more than that something is moving well. No appeal by the mind is being made 
to the specific meanings of run, only a curiosity is present as to how the 
sentence is going to proceed. The mention of the car adds considerable 
meaning, but again it does not start an elimination process of the possible 
specific meanings of run or car; it only adds further meaning to the 
developing sentence. The addition of into and the ditch completes the 
meaning of the sentence and establishes a specific use of ran, which in this 
case is driving an automobile too fast.

As the verb run has thirty specific meanings, car three, into six and bush 
one, we are faced with 540 combinations of meaning from which we have to 
somehow select the intended combination. Experience shows that anybody 
understands the intended meaning instantly and without fail, indicating that 
the process is additive, single meaning by single meaning. This proves that 
the thirty different specific meanings are not independent meanings but are 
thirty different uses of a single intrinsic meaning. Note that when ran is 
replaced by xxx, the intrinsic meaning of ran cannot be retrieved by the 
context, as it could stand for crashed, tumbled, flew, etc. The assignment 
of a single intrinsic meaning to a word is fundamental to the concept of 
word meaning and the differentiation between intrinsic meaning and usage 
will prove to be essential."

(Maybe this will whet the apatite for the rest of the article.)


Bert de Haan.


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