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Latin ? for all you super smart people


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I have learned John 1 in Latin as

 

In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum etc.

 

 

In going over something today and rereading Carry on Mr. Bowditch, I see a different version apparently translated from the Greek by a guy named, Beza which reads

 

In principio erat Sermo ille, et Sermo ille erat apud Deum

 

 

Is one more correct than the other? Is the source of heated debates? When I see Sermo my very unenlightened mind thinks of word such as a sermon which does not make me think of Christ. Am I reading that correctly?

 

 

TIA

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In googling around, I found this: http://books.google.com/books?id=fwiOL394f_QC&pg=PA267&lpg=PA267&dq=in+principio+erat+sermo+beza&source=bl&ots=-YlWE8wN33&sig=9FxoK1OYvQUeiq6sdbNBXFh5Ih4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=L4JzUJ-fK4Pc2QWx-IHYCA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=in%20principio%20erat%20sermo%20beza&f=false

And also this:http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4173446?uid=3739904&uid=2460338175&uid=2460337935&uid=2&uid=4&uid=83&uid=63&uid=3739256&sid=21101296136307

:001_smile:

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The word being translated here is the Greek logos, which has a whole nest of meanings including the relatively ordinary ones expressed by verbum, meaning 'word', and sermō, meaning conversation or discourse. These words are perfectly fine to capture the ordinary sense of logos, though none of its broader philosophical import. I'm not a theologist, or an expert on the pre-Socratics, but the gist of it is that logos is a spark of intelligence that is the divinity of God which is shared with his creations -- i.e., what is meant by 'created in God's image'. Of course, that's just one traditional reading.

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