Virgil and context

[Jonathan Lighter]

The reality of literary and consolatory functions of language is not
recognized by all linguists.

JL

On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 4:51 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Virgil and context
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I think this ignores, rather than addresses, the original article, which
> argued that the Virgil quote was a weak choice, because its original
> context
> did not support the current usage. It also gave an example of a strong
> choice, for comparison.
>
> DanG
>
> On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Virgil and context
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > If the denotations and connotations of a phrase are somehow fixed for
> > all time by the initial context of application then one must await
> > additional archaeological discoveries to determine the "true" meaning
> > of a phrase such as "Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo." For
> > example, some future investigation might reveal that the Latin phrase
> > was first employed before Virgil's text to commemorate a group of
> > villagers who were massacred by a marauding army.
> >
> > This would upend and discredit the Virgilian meaning. It would become
> > a travesty to use the phrase to commemorate warriors when its primal
> > (and hence overruling) use was to condemn militaristic savagery
> > directed against innocents.
> >
> > Alternatively, one might contend that the meaning of a phrase is
> > determined only in part by the palimpsest of previous uses. It is also
> > determined by envisioning future uses that are not arbitrarily
> > straitjacketed by previous cultural identifications.
> >
> >
> >
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org