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November 3, 2006
Experimenting with Joy
χαίρετε ἐν κυρίῳ πάντοτε· πάλιν ἐρῶ, χαίρετε.
Text from the Polyglot bible. And those who know me well already know what it says. For you others--Phil 4:4
And below, is the Latin:
Gaudete in Domino semper: iterum dico gaudete.
As you can well see, Greek is by far the more aesthetically pleasing language--the absoluteness of its superiority to Latin is amply displayed by the chi and rho characters. So, on aesthetic merit alone, it is intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers that Greek is objectively superior to Latin.
Posted by Steven Riddle at November 3, 2006 11:56 AM
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Comments
Doth thou jest?
Posted by: Mark Windsor at November 3, 2006 2:49 PM
Dear Mr. Windsor,
In fact, yes. I have been told in the past that one language is "objectively more beautiful" than another--usually the language held up is Latin. Personally, I find English a marvelous language for subtlety of expression and for tremendous and powerful expressive beauty that by sheers means of vocabulary and flexibility provides a greater range of meaning than almost any other that I am acquainted with. And I have long pondered how one language can be "objectively more beautiful." The concept eludes me.
However, if there is a beautiful written language, Greek must be foremost in the list.
Sorry--TMI, but others will ask as well and it is good for me to provide the explanation.
shalom,
Steven
Posted by: Steven Riddle at November 3, 2006 3:26 PM
Steven,
Thanks. It was even more curious in that the browser I was on when I wrote that had lots of little boxes instead of letters. On Safari I can actually see the whole thing.
And please, call me Mark. Everybody else does.
Posted by: Mark Windsor at November 4, 2006 10:18 AM
I think that a cohort of my Romanist buddies marching over to Florida might be able to make you see the error of your ways!
SPQR
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at November 5, 2006 2:36 AM