Re: what is etymology? (linguistics and biology)

Reading a further Goebekli Tepe hieroglyph, pillar 30
on the ring of oval D

Words come from the things we humans craft. English
in Shakespeare's time had some 200,000 words,
information technology alone gave rise to 200,000 new
English terms. "Computer" comes from Latin com-putare,
think together, calculate. In retrospect we may also call
the ovals B C D on the Goebekli Tepe, which served for
calculating a lunisolar calendar, a "computer" of sorts:
there is the "hardware": the pillars, and the "software":
the way to move pebbles and statues along the ring
and in between the inner pillars.

I explained the hieroglyphs on the large inner pillars of
oval D - one of them a pair of vertical bars with a hollow
in between, resembling our letter H. The vertical bars are,
I believe, a self-reference, meaning the pair of inner pillars,
and the hollow the place for the supreme ruler in between.
Now a similar H but lying on a side is found on the narrow
flank of pillar 30 on the ring of oval D. Here it may be another
self-reference, meaning the earth wherein the pillar stands:
lower horizontal bar; the sky toward which the pillar reaches:
upper horizontal bar; and the ruler in between, standing on
the ground, reaching the sky with his head, ascending to
his heavenly abode: connecting earth and sky in this and
in the next life, caring for his people here and there, now
and then, first as man, then as demi-god ...

Below the lying H are snakes heading downward. These,
I believe, are symbols of rain, of water. The earth AC is
getting water from the sky CA. Now combine AC and CA
and you get ACCA or AKA which may have been the origin
of Latin aqua for water.

AKA may have been the general term for a connenction
between earth and sky, and may have turned into ancient
Greek kai for "and." At least the second part, KA or CA,
is present in Latin caput for head, caelum, later coelum
for sky, columna for pillar, capitellum for top or head of
a pillar. Plato's academy is named for a mythical figure
from the Trojan war Akademos, grove of Akademos,
and the name Akademos means "silent district."
In the light of the above explanation, the origin of Aka
in Akademos might have meant a connection of earth
and sky, of here and beyond, of the real world and
the one of Plato's ideals. Would be a nice explanation,
but will have to check the official etymology first in the
fifty volumes of the large Pauly. More in a later message.

Next time: Goebekli Tepe, pillar 1

Regards Franz Gnaedinger www.seshat.ch



What is language? and what makes the specific human
language so different from other forms of communication?

At age 14 I asked myself a question: what is language?
I pondered this question for more than eleven years,
and then, in 1974/75, at age 25/26, I found this answer:

Language is the means of getting help, support and
understanding from those we depend upon in one way
or another --- and every means of getting help, support
and understanding may be called language, on whatever
level of life it occurs, whereby the form of language used
mirrors that level of life. We humans make use of tools,
we fabricate plenty things, and shape our surroundings
by the help of all kinds of devices, we create an artificial
world, which requires art, namely a harmony of the
artificial with nature in both forms, within ourselves,
and around us. Now the use of tools and other objects
is mirrored in human language, namely in the use of
words. First of all, a word names an object, such as
a tool, a board, a table, a brick, a wall, a house ....
A tent, a roof, a vault makes you see the sky as
a vault overarching the earth, and thus you may
coin a word for it. A human shape drawn on the wall
of a cave, or formed in clay, allows to name man,
Adam, the one made of clay. A statue may be as
perfect, natural and lovely as ever possible, there
will always lack something to the real human being,
and that what's lacking is called life, as if it were
a thing of its own, an elusive one, though, like air,
breath, which became the symbol of life. A noun
can become a word, and a word a noun, life live,
live life. A band may tie two objects, and can then
become the symbol of unity, band (b)and and ...
As we combine different elements when building
a house, bricks, boards, beams, planks, nails,
metal tubes, glass panes, according to the rules
of the respective craftmanship, we add words to
sentences and paragraphs and speeches, or
articles and books, according to the rules of
grammar and syntax. Using language we play
God, we create the world, at least in the mind of
our listener. When I say: the sky is blue, I create
a sky and paint it blue. When I say: the sun rises,
I create a sun and make it rise ... The creative power
of language serves the basic purpose of language,
namely finding help, support and understanding from
those we depend upon: we (try to) shape the world
in such a way that a listener or reader can't but agree
and will in the final end understand our opinion and
help and support us the way he or she can.

Next time: reading a further Goebekli Tepe hieroglyph

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