enthymemes, thanks

[James Comas]

On Tuesday, April 29, 2003, at 11:00  PM, Automatic digest processor 
wrote:

> I wish to ask one more question, I hope you won't mind. I don't know 
> Greek so I cannot trace the ethymological root of the term 
> "enthymeme". I found two approaches on this matter. One says that 
> enthymeme comes from the Greek word enthymema (en - in - thymos 
> - mind). Another one it says that in Greek it meant "to be remembered 
> in mind". Which one is correct? Why do you think the verb "remembered" 
> appeared in the second approach?

What little I know of the etymology of "enthymema" comes from the 
Liddell-Scott-Jones _Greek-English Lexicon_ (LSJ), which is available 
online through the extraordinary Perseus Project:

	http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/

According to the LSJ entry, "enthymema" is not found until the 5th 
century, its oldest appearance being in Sophocles' _Oedipus at 
Kolonos_, where it has the meaning of "thought, piece of reasoning, 
argument." The word derives from an older verb "enthymazo," the oldest 
meaning of which is given as "lay to heart, ponder"; later, it comes to 
mean "to infer," or "to conclude."

The verb, in turn, is constructed from the noun "thymos," which is 
found in Homer and which is usually translated as "spirit," "soul," or 
"mind" but which has a complex and shifting relationship with "nous," 
"psyche," and "kardia." It often is used to refer to that part of the 
spirit that prompts one to action and is obviously related to the Greek 
notion of desire -- "epithymia."

LSJ notes that Plato is correct when, in _Kratylus_, he derives 
"thymos" from the verb "thuo," meaning "rage" or "seethe."

Much more information can be found in the LSJ entries; but I could not 
find anything relating this set of words to the idea of memory. If 
there is a connection between "thymos" and memory, it is likely to be 
in Plato. But I'm fairly sure Plato is consistent in using the term 
"psyche," not "thymos," in discussions on memory ("anamnesis").

I'd be interested in seeing the argument that relates "thymos" to 
memory. And I hope there are some real classicists on this list that 
could offer more help.

Jim
-- 
Dr. J. Comas
Department of English
University of Missouri-Columbia
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