Dear ken,

many thanks for pointing out the errors of my ways. I have read the OED
on both these words and should have been a bit more critical in my
cutting and pasting.

I appreciate the colorful nature of the web site and I apologize if I
have made a false link in any one's mind between "normal" and "know". I
am very happy for the distinction that you make between the Greek and
the Latin. That is, I should have used that very point to make a larger
point that the Romans and the Greeks saw the world in fundamentally 
different ways. The connecting OBJECT is the carpenter's rule (not
etymology). For the Greeks, this is about a knowledge object; for the
Romans, it is a symbol of authority. In reducing the OBJECT to the
status of authority or as we have it, "rule", the Romans were making the
larger claim that they had special knowledge of rules - for example they
loved to stick it up foreign tribes by building massive arches just to
show off their superior knowledge and/or control of material reality.
The Ancient Greeks were far more philosophical - they'd rather know the
world than own or control it (in my humble interpretation).

It was the word "normal" that took me down this pathway and so my
posting followed the history of my thinking.

I will attempt to be more scholarly in the future.

cheers

keith
 
>>> Ken Friedman <[log in to unmask]> 11/20/12 10:41 AM >>> 
Dear Keith,

The web site from which you derived the etymology you posted seems to
be dedicated to esoteric learning supported by a mélange of confused
scholarship.

I*ll respond a bit later to the substantive portion of your post *
I think it adds value to the thread. The etymological notes are
problematic.

The etymology of the word *normal* is not related to the etymology
of the words *gnomon* or *know.*

The Latin word *normalis* refers to measures and right angles. The
Greek word gnomon has to do with the carpenter*s square. The Greek
word gnomon and the Latin word normalis both refer to the same kind of
object, the square measure.

In contrast, they are not linked in etymology, and the Latin word
normalis is not linked to the word *know.*

The Latin word that is etymologically related to the word know is
*cognoscere.* This word is related to the Indo-European *gno*
root and the Greek word gnomon. are linked to English words such as
*cognoscenti,* *connoisseur,* and *know.*

The author of the Constellations of Words web site is doing pop
scholarship. The site unearths some interesting sources and materials.
Some are reasonable, some are not, but the site treats them all with
equal value, and makes some significant errors claiming historical truth
for myth or building etymological links for words that are not linked.

The author of the site builds etymology and meaning on coincidence. For
example, on the home page, she writes, *Words have energy and vibrate
at different frequencies. I envisage each of the 88 modern
constellations having its own specific key note, as on the modern piano
there are 88 keys. If certainty could be achieved in allocating the
correct words to the constellations we would recognize the harmony and
have no doubts.*

If the author of this passage had been a concert pianist with a
Bosendorfer, we*d need 97 constellations! While the roots *norma*
and *gno* may seem related to the author of this web site, they are
not.

The Oxford English Dictionary provides robust etymologies for the words
*normal,* *gnosis,* *gnomon,* and *know.* The etymology
of the word *know* is massive, so I will not append it, and the
Greek letters may not make it across. This etymology shows nearly 1,800
words in variant lines of descent, linked and related words, and
unrelated words with overlapping meanings. It is one of the more complex
etymologies in the OED. There are no links to the Latin word
*normal.*

Many readers on this list have access to the online OED through a
university library, so the etymology of these words is available. Should
anyone wish, I will post the etymologies.

Yours,

Ken

Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished
Professor | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia |
[log in to unmask] | Phone +61 3 9214 6102 |
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/design


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