That's no pun, mister:
atonement, n.
[In use a verbal n. from ATONE, but apparently of prior formation, due to
the earlier n. onement and the phrase .to be atone. or .at onement.. Cf.
the following:
1533 Q. CATH. PARR Erasm. Comm. Crede 162 To reconcile hymselfe and make
an onement with god. 1599 BP. HALL Sat. III. vii. 69 Which never can be
set at onement more. 1555 Fardle Facions II. xii. 298 The redempcion,
reconciliacion, and at onement of mankinde with God the father.]
The verb 'atone' comes from the adverbial phrase, 'at one', meaning simply
to bring two things into unity.
az
> My Sunday School teacher used to encourage us to read "atonement" as
> "at-one-ment." I suspect the pun was readily available to Spenser.
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Anne Prescott <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:55:32 -0400
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: holiness and wholeness
>
> Racing for a class and unable to think clearly (except for awful elaborations on the pun "perfect [w]hole," but since holiness connects to salvation, and since health does too (salutary, salvific) at least in sound, then it would seem to me that the connection between being made whole and being made healthy and being saved, as oneself or as a community, would be ancient. But, to repeat--off to teach. No time for OED and to see if health and "salv--" are indeed Indo-European cognates. I'll also ask a Medievalist for older puns/connections.
> PS: he never has a full union with Una, does he? And Eden, a Jungian would say, is all the more an image of the whole because it's a mandala with its four rivers and presumably central tree(s) (always reminded me of the four parts of Oz with its central city). The self got shattered. Anne P.
>
> On Oct 19, 2009, at 9:33 AM, James Broaddus wrote:
>
> Were there associations of holiness with wholeness before Berger's 1966-67 essay on Book I?
>
> Berger says
>
> The image [of the New Jerusalem] identifies holiness with wholeness, that is, with the oneness of shared life, of communion and community. Having traveled so long by himself, Redcross now begins to join and to be joined by real others; the sacramental atmosphere of the dragon fight will further prepare him for union and Una, while the whole the image of Eden will suggest the character of wholeness.
>
> Since then, has anyone other than Nohrnberg connected the two words?
>
> Nohrnberg says
>
> Thus Spenser's knight of holiness is often presented to us in terms of his health, or his wholeness: etymologically, holiness in Hebrew is set apartness, but in English it is wholeness. Analogy, 279.
>
>
> Jim Broaddus
>
>
>
> --
> Retired, Ind. State.Univ.
> 2487 KY 3245
> Brodhead, KY 40409
>
>
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