tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post2040067905368554235..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Pronoun TroubleUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-6310533860999476762013-05-21T16:14:51.598-05:002013-05-21T16:14:51.598-05:00Retaining the older form would prove nothing about...Retaining the older form would prove nothing about the Trinity.<br /><br />It would merely demonstrate that human beings are cussed obstinate.Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-12193357027086984222012-12-05T09:39:03.077-06:002012-12-05T09:39:03.077-06:00Modern English has roots in Anglo-Saxon, French, L...Modern English has roots in Anglo-Saxon, French, Latin (mostly by way of French), and German... and whatever else we occasionally decide to steal from other languages. The transliteration of the German "geist" as "ghost" to mean spirit goes back a long way, and for a great deal of English language history, "ghost" was a simple translation of "spiritus." Even the later English "spirit" comes to us by way of the Old French "espirit," not directly from the Latin. (You'll find both "ghost" and "spirit" used to translate the same Latin word in some older English Bibles.)<br /><br />So, the people who HATE Latin in liturgy pray in... Old French.<br />And the people who HATE English in liturgy pray in... German.<br /><br />But the translation of "Spiritus Sancti" as "Holy Ghost" is important largely because that was the way the name of the Third Person of the Trinity was translated into English Catholic Bibles for many centuries. That's not a minor consideration. Catholic language traditions don't exist only in Latin, and perpetuating the use of "Holy Ghost" even in a time when "ghost" is taken to mean simply the lingering spirit of a dead man acts as a reminder that modern language fashions are not all-important.<br /><br />There's also something unbecoming about altering a person's name to suit contemporary fads. It would be weird to start calling The Father or The Son anything but. What if "Padre" and "Fili" became popular English replacements for "Father" and "Son" in the future? Both are closer to the Latin, but retaining the older forms would make a statement about the unchanging nature of the Trinity. Archaic usages are good for that sort of thing.<br /><br />And not all of us glare. Some of us good-naturedly roll our eyes, instead.J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02124903563459448051noreply@blogger.com