Thanks for the fact check for this lazy bum .

I followed it, and here’s an intriguing thing (that sort of explains my “If I recall correctly” in the post – something felt off as I wrote that):

The word “hamartia” – loosely taught as “tragic flaw” when teaching drama – is a derivation of the word “hamartano” that you referenced. It’s translated as “sin” on the Perseus tool you linked to.

The word “sin” is Old English going back to earlier Germanic origins, if I get your OED clip right.

Since the Bible was translated from Hebrew and Aramaic ino Greek for wider readership – (Koine, right? It’s been 20 years since I’ve revisited this cool stuff) – I have to ask: were the early translators of the Bible into English using a Greek translation, which means they translated “harmartia” into “sin”?

Which means a descriptive word – Greek “harmartia” =”error” – becomes a metaphysically-charged word – “sin” – in the hands of the Renaissance translators into English. Turning Oedipus from a guy who just got unlucky due to fate’s cold indifference to our moral qualities, and/or his own human personality flaws, into….a damned sinner.

So weird, so fun, to think about all this stuff. Thanks for the assist. Would love some light shed on this one!

According to the OEd, at least: [OE. syn(n, for original *sunj{omac}, related to continental forms with extended stem, viz. OFris. sende, MDu. sonde (Du. zonde), OS. sundea, sundia, OHG. sunt(e)a, sund(e)a (G. sünde), ON. syn{edh}, synd (Icel., Norw., Sw., Da. synd). The stem may be related to that of L. sons, sont-is guilty. In OE. there are examples of the original general sense, ‘offence, wrong-doing, misdeed’.]

BTW, the Greek for “missing the mark” (and by extension failing at something, making an error of judgment, etc.) is (in transliteration) hamartano^ (here’s a fuller definition: http://tinyurl.com/5f32pw). The idea of sin in the sense you suggest may be from the Greeks. But the word itself isn’t.

Larissa

But my wife just took it, and it told her that her “fate is sealed” – and then explained that her sloth, gluttony, and greed are what had damned her to eternal hell.

She says, “Just because you don’t like to exercise doesn’t mean you’re slothful; wanting a nicer house doesn’t make you mortally greedy; and okay, I like good food! I was honest. So honest people go to hell? That’s not fair.”

It’s just a silly game, but I like her points. (She does need to start exercising, though )

“Hmmm. I know, I know.”

Charlie A. Roys last blog post..Finding Balance

Thanks for the heads-up. I dinked around and discovered you can open links from Apture popups by clicking on the top title of the popup. Not the most intuitive thing in the world, so I’ll contact Apture and pass it along. Should be clearer, you’re right.

I can’t bring myself to disable Apture yet, b/c I love its potential. Let’s hope they fix that wrinkle.

On another note, apture is really starting to annoy me. I can’t open links!

Even my usual command+click (to open in new tab) doesn’t work.

Arthus Ereas last blog post..McCain is an “illiterate”