The Uncertain Dictionary II
Transylvania: from the looks of it, this word might mean "Across the Forest," but wouldn't that be a ridiculous way to name a country?
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 12:18 AM
2 comments
Gypsy Scholar
Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.
Thursday, August 20, 2020
About Me
- Name: Horace Jeffery Hodges
- Location: Seoul, South Korea
I am a retired professor. I last taught at Ewha Womans University, mostly composition, research writing, and cultural issues, but also the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history. My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism. I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested. I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries. Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."
Previous Posts
- The Uncertain Dictionary
- Epistemological Distancing
- Compact Superstitions
- More Wishbone Magic
- Look what they're teaching our kids!
- Rod Serling presents . . .
- Let's Play Infantilize the Idiom!
- My first encounter . . .
- With men like Abolghasem Yaghoubi . . .
- Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go . . .
2 Comments:
What if we think of "across the forest" as a prepositional phrase that functions adverbially, as in "He ran across the forest"? Perhaps "He ran transylvania" is then plausible.
In some form of English.
Maybe Indian.
Those crazy folks say "prepone" as the opposite of "postpone."
Last I saw Rajiv, a tiger was chasing him transylvania.
If I'm being serious (and I'm never sure if I am), then I would use the meaning "through," as in "through the forest." The word "across" implies that one is speaking of the other side. The word "through" gives more the sense of being within the forest.
I'm assuming that Dracula's homeland is a heavily forested area. But perhaps it's on the other side of a heavily forested area.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Post a Comment
<< Home