miércoles, 2 de abril de 2014

THE BIBLE AND ETYMOLOGY

Months ago, I wrote about the Bible and words like "lieutenant". Another interesting word in the Bible in the bible is "nation" (most frequently used in plural as "the nations", and also as "the kings of the earth"). In other translations, and in the original, it is featured as the word for "ethnic group" ("ethnos" in Greek, "Volk" in German, "folk" in Sweden). And the word "nation" itself comes from the Latin word for "birth". It refers, in its original sense, to a bond of blood rather than to one of land. In the days of King James, it must have been completely synonymous with "ethnos", "Volk", and "folk". As time changed, the royal courts' surrounding areas expanded, warfare and education gave hinterlanders (the people of the capitals' surroundings) a sense of common territorial identity... and thus, the term "nation" began to be used as synonymous (and, nowadays, vicarious) with the concept once known as "province", "region", or "kingdom/realm"... for which the present-day scientific denomination is "territorial state". A bond of land, of living in the same territory/realm/areas, rather than one of blood and common descent.

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario