[b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II
Harold R. Holmyard III
hholmyard at ont.com
Mon Nov 14 18:17:30 EST 2005
Dear Robert,
>Seeing as the focus of this thread seems to be what the expression
>"time/s indefinite" communicates to the English reader and whether
>it correcly communicates 'olam', I give the perspective of one who
>grew up using primarily the NWT. I feel my understanding of the
>expression was shaped at least partly by scriptural context. (one
>does't have to be a trained linguist to recognize the role of
>context - it's a universal tool for communication). I took the
>expression to roughly equal 'forever' although the possibility is
>left open in NWT that in some contexts the time period may have an
>end. In the physical world the further something is away the more
>unclear it becomes, so I took 'time indefinite' as a natural way of
>expressing a long, never-ending or else undefined time period. I
>never thought 'oh that could be five minutes'. Actually my English
>thesaurus gives these alternatives to the word "indefinately" "ad
>infinitum, continually, endlessly, for ever, sine die".
HH: What you're saying is true about "indefinitely," but it's not
true about "indefinite." Here is Roget's Thesaurus on "indefinite:
Main Entry: indefinite
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: ambiguous
Synonyms: broad, confused, doubtful, dubious, equivocal,
evasive, general, ill-defined, imprecise, indeterminable,
indeterminate, indistinct, inexact, inexhaustible, infinite,
innumerable, intangible, loose, obscure, shadowy, uncertain, unclear,
undefined, undependable, undetermined, unfixed, unknown, unlimited,
unsettled, unspecific, unsure, vague, wide
A couple of these glosses might give a meaning like "eternal," but most don't.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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