Re: grammar

From: David Moore (dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us)
Date: Fri Jan 26 1996 - 12:19:32 EST


On Thu, 25 Jan 1996, Carlton Winbery wrote:

> Jim Love wrote;
> >Speaking of word origins (I like logical lapses) I have a question
> >about "orthotomeo" does it have any origin in wood working? I
> >remember hearing that the older craftsmen thought that saws were for
> >poor cutters and if you knew what you were doing you could cut right
> >with an axe. (18th and 19th century) It got me wondering.
> >
> The vulgate reading seems to indicate that they understood this verb
> without the idea of cutting, RECTE TRACTANTEM "rightly handling . . ." I
> read somewhere that some of the church fathers associated the verb
> ORTHOTOMEO with the craft of stonemasons, smoothing the stones so they fit.
> Probably here the fathers are right that the idea of cutting has faded
> into history.
> charis,
>
        One suggestion which seems to the point here is a comment by
Moulton in his volume on _Accidence and Word Formation_. He suggests that
the first element of ORQOTOMOUNTA is that which holds sway in the word's
translation. He likens it to KAINOTOMEIN = "innovate" (Mouton's Grammar,
II: 274).

David L. Moore Southeastern Spanish District
Miami, Florida of the Assemblies of God
dvdmoore@dcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us Department of Education
http://members.aol.com/dvdmoore



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