Sep 02
Words and bloody meanings
John Hobbins has a great post on How to Use a Hebrew Dictionary. In fact, apart from his third point (on words grouped according to their root) everything he says is applicable to any other language, including Greek. Best quote:
A great Arabic lexicographer once said that every word in Arabic has four meanings: its primary meaning; the opposite; something to do with camels; and something to do with sex. Every language is a bit like this.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: words are not simple repositories or agglomerations of meaning. John’s recommended practice of turning to the dictionary after all else has been done to read a word in context is one that can’t be stressed too highly. The best traditional dictionaries are useful repositories of referenced contexts, and that collection of references is actually more important than the summary definitions given under the headword.
John examples his points with the word “blood” and associated combinations. This choice, or at least the form “bloody”, in its most common colloquial use as an intensive adjective, also gives me a chance to sound off about the dangers of etymology again. There’s a surprisingly widespread false (as far as I can see) etymology provided for the word as a contraction of the oath “By Our Lady.” I can find no evidence for this. Some refer it to the use of “blood” to mean a rake or dandy and thus their associated behaviour. I tend to go with those who think it probably comes from a contraction of “God’s blood” or “sblood” used as an oath. But none of these have anything to do with the way in which many of us use the adjective as a mild swear-word today. The more idiomatic the word, the less a dictionary can help us. All it can do is provide a list of exemplary uses.