[Dragaera] Another (minor) Jhegaala thought

[Philip Hart]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008, Ian Edwards wrote:

> [me]
>> Do not rely on me for correct use of religious terms. "Hermeneutics" 
>> at least is an old old word and probably has a lot of different shades 
>> > depending on context. Maybe somebody who has studied literary theory 
>> or religion should chime in.
>
> From the OED:
>
> Hermeneutics
> [f. HERMENEUTIC a.: see -ICS. Also in form hermeneutic. Cf. Gr.  (sc. ), L. hermneutica, F. l'herméneutique.]
>    The art or science of interpretation, esp. of Scripture. Commonly distinguished from exegesis or practical exposition.
>
> First recorded use in 1737.

"By a playful thinking that is more persuasive than the rigor of
science," Heidegger tells us, the Greek words for interpreting and
interpretation--hermeneuein, hermeneia--can be traced back to the
god Hermes. However questionable the etymological connection between
Hermes and hermeneuein may be, hermeneutics, as the art of
understanding and of textual exegesis, does stand under the sign of
Hermes. Hermes is messenger who brings the word from Zeus (God); thus,
the early modern use of the term hermeneutics was in relation to
methods of interpreting holy scripture. An interpreter brought to
mortals the message from God. Although the usage was broadened in the
eighteenth and nineteenth century to take in methods of understanding
and explicating both sacred and secular texts from antiquity, the term
"hermeneutics" continued to suggest an interpretation which discloses
something hidden from ordinary understanding and mysterious. [...]

[...] Each word in each case is given its full--most often 
hidden--weight."

http://www.mac.edu/faculty/RichardPalmer/liminality.html