[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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