Was Re: [SEELANGS] Coredemptrix

[E Wayles Browne]

This has been a fascinating discussion. I'm always glad to hear from Olga Meerson, who can speak with authority on Orthodoxy both from extensive knowledge and from long participation in the community.
But the discussion has also made me think about a more linguistic topic: the multiple meanings of the prefix co-. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary says it rather clearly:
"1: with; together; joint; jointly <coexist> <coheir>
2: in or to the same degree <coextensive>
3a: one that is associated in an action with another; fellow; partner <coauthor> <coworker> b: having a usually lesser share in duty or responsibility: alternate; deputy <copilot>
..."
The prefix wasn't used much in classical Latin in meaning 3a or 3b; there are many nouns beginning with com-, con-, col-, cor-, and co-, but very few of them mean 'fellow anything'. A conservus was indeed a fellow slave, but a corruptor was by no means a fellow breaker. So these 'together; same; associated; deputy' meanings must have become more widely used in medieval Latin and then spread to modern languages.

If I am somebody's coauthor or coworker, that person is also my coauthor or coworker; but if I am a copilot to a pilot, the pilot is not my copilot. 3a is about symmetrical relationships whereas 3b is about asymmetrical relationships.

In the religious context, it is evidently necessary to reject the view that Mary is a co- anything to Jesus in meaning 3a, but seemingly co- in sense 3b could be used with various agent nouns to tell about her roles?

--
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu

________________________________
From: "R. M. Cleminson" <rmcleminson at POST.SK>
Reply-To: "SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list" <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 13:48:30 -0400
To: <SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu>
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Coredemptrix

Es tut mir Leid, aber ein Tisch ist ein Tisch.  (For the dire consequences of ignoring this basic principle, see the well-known short story by Peter Bichsel.)  Words mean what they mean.  ...

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