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After the death of his mother, Saint Augustine of Hippo writes: It seemed also good to me to go and bathe; because I had heard that bath (balneum) was derived from the Greek word balaneion, for the reason that it dispelled anxiety from the mind.
—Confessions (400) [Longmans, Green, and Co. Translation, 1897.] Obviously, he is speaking about the etymology of the Latin word for bath. The English word "bath" is no help, because it is of Germanic origin. Can anyone explain Augustine's comment? And why is the Latin word for "bath" so similar to the English word? Do they have the same ultimate origin in the Greek?
Last edited by Hydra; 03/05/07 06:24 AM.
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I'm not sure I understand the question. English bath is quite different from Latin balneum which is pretty straightforwardly borrowed from Greek balaneion. They do both start with b, but Greek balaneion is from the PIE root *guel- which yields German Quelle and English qualm, while Germanic bath, Bad, is from *bhe:-, *bho:- 'warm, roast', which yields Greek phogo 'to roast'.
The city of Bath is a loan translation of Latin Aquae 'waters. baths'.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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I think the question, at least the question that arose in my mind, was: why did Augie the Horse decide that the etymology of balneum was cause to make him overcome his scruples about taking a bath? I'm pretty sure, BTW, that he didn't speak English.
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why did Augie the Horse decide that the etymology of balneum was cause to make him overcome his scruples about taking a bath? I'm pretty sure, BTW, that he didn't speak English.Who knows with folk etymologies? According to Herr Professor Dr Johannes Brachtendorf in Augustine on Human Dignity, Love of Neighbor, and the Role of the Passions, page 9: As a professor of rhetoric, he knows the Stoic etymology of the word balaneion (bath), according to which it is composed of “ballo” (throw out) and “ania” (grief). So he hoped the balaneion would throw out his grief. Well, it did not work, and the grief did not go away – which is just another example of the dubitability of the Stoic etymologies and of the unavailability of their ideal of apathy. It's a silly etymology. The word ballo is our words parabola, symbol, hyperbole[/i], etc.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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