On 11/5/2012 4:22 AM, George Athas wrote: > Could this not simply be the phenomenon of shifting semantic domains? In > Hebrew, this word means 'perfect' in the sense of 'complete'. While > 'perfect' is a legitimate way to translate the word in Latin, the actual > Latin word has a slightly different semantic range, on which Augustine > is basing his discussion. In other words, Augustine is situating his > discussion within the Latin meanings of the Latin word, not the Hebrew > meanings of the Hebrew word.
Certainly possible, George, although my earlier response demonstrated how Mike's definition of the English "perfect" is not necessary to Augustine's discussion. If Augustine is approaching that sense, it is due to the semantic shift of the word itself, a shift we see that eventually works its way when the word becomes an English borrowing from medieval Latin, but does not seem to be part of Classical Latin or the writers of later antiquity who do their best to imitate that style of Latin. Neither the Lewis & Short or the OLD list "perfect with regard to moral qualities" or the like as a meaning for the word. -- N.E. Barry Hofstetter Semper melius Latine sonat The American Academy http://www.theamericanacademy.net The North American Reformed Seminary http://www.tnars.net Bible Translation Magazine http://www.bible-translation.net http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
