Subject: Words [previously 'RE: Matrix crap')
From: L. Manning Vines (lmanningvines@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Oct 10 2001 - 14:01:50 GMT
Jim said:
<< The "one" is a messianic appellation as is "neo" (associated with "new,"
the "new man," etc.). >>
I suppose I see the sense of that, but my gut doesn't want to apply "neo" to
a messianic figure the way it might apply "one" (or "the one") to such a
character. I presume "neo" (as an English prefix) comes from the Greek
"neos", which means "new" or "fresh", often "youth". A group of Athenian
young people might have been referred to as "neoi" and in my encounters with
the word this has been probably the most common application. The first
English word that comes to my mind is "neoteny," which is the retention of
juvenile characteristics into adulthood. I don't think any of this
precludes "neo" as a messianic appellation as you say (it might even support
the idea, I guess), I just have gut-connection with "neo" and "child." I
guess that's not problematic; "neo" is just not prone to immediately bring
to my head words like "messiah," or "hero," or even "special." The meaning
can apply though, it seems.
Also, I have a etymological (but very minor) nitpick with your Matrix essay.
You say, ". . .the computer firm Metacortex (higher mind, drawing a
parallel between . . . ." I think "Metacortex" can be understood as
something like "higher mind" but I think it's not quite precise.
"Meta" as an English prefix has been used in different ways by different
fields, but they're all derived from the Greek particle. The precise
meaning of the Greek word "meta" varies pretty widely and depends on the
case of the following word, but it always conveys some notion of sharing, of
one thing being with or with respect to something else. It can usually be
translated as "with" or "among", sometimes "between". With regard to place
or rank, it means something like "after" or "following." As a prefix, I
believe it always means "after." I suspect that the understanding of "meta"
as meaning something like "beyond" comes from the word "metaphysics" which I
believe originated when its Greek cognate was used as a title to Aristotle's
work which followed his Physics. The title was only intended to mean that
it comes after the Physics chronologically, but as the subject matter in a
sense transcended that of the earlier work, so the title came to be a word
describing anything that did like.
And someone with better Latin can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think
"cortex" simply refers to a cover, something like "bark" or "shell." When
the word is used describing anatomy, it refers to the outer layer of an
organ, usually the outer layer of the cerebrum.
This is nitpicky, I know. I suppose, as an English prefix, "meta" can
acceptably be used to mean "beyond" or something like it (and "above" isn't
much of a stretch, then); and "cortex" is immediately associated with
"brain" in most English-speaking minds. But a more literal etymological
meaning would be "after cover" or "behind cover" or something like it. It
could even be an anatomical term, referring to something under (and probably
attached to) the surface of an organ.
-robbie
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