Bob Dylan has a new record coming out. Sounds like it could be interesting; supposedly a rock record, but with lots of accordion on it. Is it zydeco? I doubt it. The name of it is Together Through Life.
As for the previous record, Modern Times, the always alert Scott Warmuth has some Chaucerian observations.
"The artifex verborum of the dream ... was no less adept than the waking Coleridge in the metamorphosis of words." — John Livingston Lowes, The Road to Xanadu.
Observations on language (mostly ancient), religion, and culture.
By Edward M. Cook, Ph.D.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Speaking
I'll be speaking Monday at 5:15 pm at Catholic University on the topic "Recent Epigraphic Discoveries and their Bearing on the Origin of Christianity." The lecture is part of the Early Christian Seminar sponsored by the Center for the Study of Early Christianity and is open to the CUA community and invited guests. If any readers of "Ralph" are in the neighborhood and would like to come, let me know and I'll send you more info.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Song of the Week
Come on
Step up
Jump around
Step in
Get up
Stay up
Get down
Come on
Jump in
Move around
Come on
Step up
Get up
Way up
Get down
All right
Friday, March 06, 2009
Raphael Golb Arrest
Wow, this is a blockbuster that will have the community of Qumran scholars buzzing for months, if not longer. A vast quantity of relevant material has been collected by Bob Cargill here.
The sad thing about this scandal is not only the paranoia and vitriol on display in what was originally a scholarly dispute, but the tawdry and shoddy means used to propagate them. Incredible. The scholars who were the victims (particularly Cargill and Larry Schiffman) are to be congratulated for taking steps to bring this activity to an end, but it's a shame that their time had to be spent doing that instead of scholarship.
I'm just watching it all with disbelief from the sidelines. If I learn anything not available from other sources, I'll report it.
The sad thing about this scandal is not only the paranoia and vitriol on display in what was originally a scholarly dispute, but the tawdry and shoddy means used to propagate them. Incredible. The scholars who were the victims (particularly Cargill and Larry Schiffman) are to be congratulated for taking steps to bring this activity to an end, but it's a shame that their time had to be spent doing that instead of scholarship.
I'm just watching it all with disbelief from the sidelines. If I learn anything not available from other sources, I'll report it.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Linguistics Terms that Illustrate What They Mean
I see that I haven't blogged the ENTIRE month of February, which is a new record of some kind of futility (or possibly: commitment to work outside of cyberspace. Take your pick.).
To get the ball rolling again, I shall submit a list of terms from linguistics that illustrate what they mean. The late Herb Paper and I cooked these up years ago over lunch (although "haplogy" already existed as a joke among linguists).
HAPLOGY < haplology
DITTOTOGRAPHY < dittography
SYNCPE < syncope
APOCOP < apocope
'PHAERESIS < aphaeresis
NANSALIZANTION < nasalization
ANAPATYXIS < anaptyxis
To get the ball rolling again, I shall submit a list of terms from linguistics that illustrate what they mean. The late Herb Paper and I cooked these up years ago over lunch (although "haplogy" already existed as a joke among linguists).
HAPLOGY < haplology
DITTOTOGRAPHY < dittography
SYNCPE < syncope
APOCOP < apocope
'PHAERESIS < aphaeresis
NANSALIZANTION < nasalization
ANAPATYXIS < anaptyxis