Re: RT list: Defending the Explicature

H. Beck:

"I am reminded of my own days in graduate school, long ago, when I would
notice occasional articles in the campus newspaper about the "Greek Students
Association" and how "the Greek community is being blamed for the incident"
and so on -- invariably referring, not to people of Greek heritage at all,
but to male students associated with fraternities. One wonders how students
from Greece would feel if denied membership in the "Greek Students
Association"..."

--- Well, I thought about that. But I would not take this too seriously.
After all, it's only _three_ people in Lesbos so far complaining. One
consideration though is that if it's Lesbos-based, it should not concern at all the
history of the English language. It's about a lexeme, "lesbikos", and how its
usage can be traced back in that little island from pre-Homeric times to the
present. With "Greek Student" I think we have a case of the type that Grice
discusses in "Aristotle and the multiplicity of being" -- PPQ, final sections --
"He's a French teacher". With both "French" and "Greek", and Grice would
know because he had a 'classical education', it's very difficult to trace
ethnic origins. He considers "Balkanic" in "Reply to Richards", when recalling
that one of Gardiner's students was "Greek", and attempted to bribe Gardiner by
a "sort of Balkanic approach". ('Reply to Richards', p. 65). With "Greek",
I'm never sure. I hold an Italian Passport (EU) that reads, "Repubblica
Italiana". I suppose the Greek passport would read, "Hellenike Politeia", or
"Hellas" -- but hardly the "Graeco-" Roman root. Of course, it would be translated
perhaps to English, or French? So, a student of Greek origin can only
self-identify as "hellenikos" (or "hellenike" as the case may be), and so he or she
does not need to deal with a minor American eccentricity. Although I do love
that OED quote,
 
"Being Greek has certainly opened doors for me professionally ... but
perhaps the greatest gift is the cherished friendships with members of other Greek
organizations." T. D. Chandler, in A. J. D'Angelo et al, Inspiration for
Greeks, 2001, p. 57

And then of course there's Greek god and Greek love. Below some further
quotes-cum-explicatura from the OED.
Cheers,
 
JL

He's Greek +> (semantic enrichment) "He's related to Greece in the _primary
way_ of 'being related to'.

c893 K. ÆLFRED Oros. V. xii. §4 a foran hi on Crecas. c900 tr. Bæda's Hist.
IV. xxxii. [xxxi.] (1890) 378 Mid a ale eslæene..e Grecas nemna paralysis.
 
He's Greek +> (semantic enrichment) "He's related to Greece in that he goes
to the Greek church"
 
c1380 WYCLIF Wks. (1880) 332 e ridde maner & leste yuel, at men seyn at
greks han, is at e prest preye at god assoyle hym.
1560 BECON New Catech. v. Wks. 1564 I. 433, I passe ouer the other auncient
fathers and doctours bothe of the Greke and Latin churches.
 
He's Greek +> He's a Hellenized Jew.
 
1382 WYCLIF Acts vi. 1 In tho dayes..grucchinge of Greekis is maad aens
Ebrews.
 
c1380 WYCLIF Wks. (1880) 332 e ridde maner & leste yuel, at men seyn at
greks han, is at e prest preye at god assoyle hym.
 
He's Greek +> he is "a cunning or wily person; a cheat, sharper, esp. one
who cheats at cards. (Cf. F. grec.)"
 
1528 ROY & BARLOW Rede me, etc. II. (Arb.) 117 In carde playinge he is a
goode greke.
 
He's a gay Greek +> He is "a merry fellow; a roysterer; a boon companion; a
person of loose habits."

1536 Rem. Sedition 7b, Whom can they refuse, when smythes, coblers, tylers,
carters, and such other gay grekes, seme worthy to be theyr gouernours?
 
He's Greek +> He is related to _Ireland_.
 
1823 ‘JON BEE’ Dict. Turf, Greek Irishmen call themselves Greeks -- none
else follow the same track to the east; throughout this land, many unruly
districts are termed Grecian.
 
He's Greek +> "He's one of us"
 
U.S. College slang. A member of a fraternity or sorority, esp. one with a
name composed of Greek letters; cf. GREEK adj.
 
1888 N.Y. Times 24 Nov. 3/3
 
A ‘Greek’ theoretically will go a long ways to do something for a ‘Frater’.
 
1949 Time 21 Mar. 47/2
 
Non-fraternity men, who outnumber the Greeks two to one, held a mass
meeting.
 
2003 D. WILLIAMS-WHEELER Be my Sorority Sister 14
 
They are hard working students. They are not like a lot of those other
Greeks.
 
1881 N.Y. Times 4 Dec. 2/4 Judge Vinton decided what are known as the ‘Greek
fraternity’ cases, holding that the rule of the Faculty..,excluding the
members of such societies from the university, was within the limits of their
lawful discretion.
 
1901 H. D. SHELDON Student Life & Customs 169 The O. K. Society arose from
an opposition to the Greek fraternity system at Harvard in the year 1858.
 
1938 Nebraska State Jrnl. 20 Sept. 6/4, I have never inquired as to the
exact dues and living expenses at Greek houses, but I have heard they vary from
$35 to $70 a month.
 
2001 T. D. CHANDLER in A. J. D'Angelo et al. Inspiration for Greeks 57 Being
Greek has certainly opened doors for me professionally..but perhaps the
greatest gift is the cherished friendships with members of other Greek
organizations.

He's Greek +> He looks like Polykleitus's Doruphoros.
 
Of buildings, works of art, physiognomy, etc.: Resembling what prevailed in
Greece, Grecian.
 
1847 TENNYSON Princ. Prol. 11 And me that morning Walter show'd the house,
Greek, set with busts.

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Received on Sun May 4 00:53:56 2008