Fun with False Friends
September 30th, 2009
I’m finding my study of Attic Greek also helping a lot to get back into Koine. Shortly after reading some discussions of diglossia in modern Greece, I was reading the Didache, and came across the following conclusive proof-text:
παγὶς γὰρ θανάτου ἡ διγλωσσία
There you have it. Diglossia is a deadly snare :-)
Update: even better:
τέκνον μου, μὴ γίνου … μαθηματικὸς … εκ γὰρ τούτων ἁπάντων εἰδωλολατρία γεννᾶται
“My child, do not become … a mathematician … for from all that comes idolatry.” Could have used that advice before I went to university!
That’s fantastic!
What, you didn’t hear that? Why do you think I switched to a Chemistry major?
You want Christian puns against higher learning? I gotcha Christian puns against higher learning right here. :-)
Romanus the Melodist, Hymn 49.17:
Οὐκοῦν ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς πάντων περιγενέσθαι δι’ ὧν λαλοῦσι γλωσσῶν;
Καὶ τί φιλονεικοῦσιν οἱ ἔξω ληροῦντες;
Τί φυσῶσι καὶ βομβεύουσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες;
Τί φαντάζονται πρὸς Ἄρατον τὸν τρισκατάρατον;
Τί πλανῶνται πρὸς Πλάτωνα;
Τί Δημοσθένην στέργουσι τὸν ἀσθενῆ;
Τί μὴ νοοῦσιν Ὅμηρον ὄνειρον ἀργόν;
Τί Πυθαγόραν θρυλλοῦσι τὸν δικαίως φιμωθέντα;
Τί δὲ μὴ προστρέχουσι πιστεύοντες οἷς ἐνεφανίσθη
τὸ πανάγιον πνεῦμα;
Translation left as an exercise, but this hymn gets quoted a lot…