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[–]12503543?0 points
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Necessary? No. But neither is the automobile replacing the horse as mode of transportation nor artifical ammonia replacing horse dung as a fertilizer "necessary". They have simply succeeded through being more succinct than its alternative, and I would argue that in some cases they are still irreplaceable. For example, the Greek arete could be translated as "virtue", but it would be misleading especially in the context of ancient greek philosophy, and with all the other baggage the term "virtue" has collected since (7 cardinal virtues, etc.).
Foreign words are not the same as technical progress; there is no intrinsic advantage in their use, and as I mentioned, by breaking euphony (and also in remaining an alien mark on the language and culture) are a disadvantage. Native words by their transparent meaning and structure also have an objective advantage beyond the æsthetic and cultural: no intrinsic law prevents the same process which generated a word from a basic stock in Greek, Latin or English from doing the same from a different stock in French, German or Icelandic. Shorter words count for little, or else we should all adopt Chinese.
Words are to be understood in their contexts, and thus in a discussion of Greek philosophy, virtue naturally is understood as referring to something else precisely than elsewhere. If needs must, the Greek word may be left in brackets at first mention to avoid any confusion. Nought is truly untranslatable in any advanced language; it is rather laziness which impedes this.
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[–] 12503543? ago
Necessary? No. But neither is the automobile replacing the horse as mode of transportation nor artifical ammonia replacing horse dung as a fertilizer "necessary". They have simply succeeded through being more succinct than its alternative, and I would argue that in some cases they are still irreplaceable. For example, the Greek arete could be translated as "virtue", but it would be misleading especially in the context of ancient greek philosophy, and with all the other baggage the term "virtue" has collected since (7 cardinal virtues, etc.).
[–] TheRealMaestro ago
Foreign words are not the same as technical progress; there is no intrinsic advantage in their use, and as I mentioned, by breaking euphony (and also in remaining an alien mark on the language and culture) are a disadvantage. Native words by their transparent meaning and structure also have an objective advantage beyond the æsthetic and cultural: no intrinsic law prevents the same process which generated a word from a basic stock in Greek, Latin or English from doing the same from a different stock in French, German or Icelandic. Shorter words count for little, or else we should all adopt Chinese.
Words are to be understood in their contexts, and thus in a discussion of Greek philosophy, virtue naturally is understood as referring to something else precisely than elsewhere. If needs must, the Greek word may be left in brackets at first mention to avoid any confusion. Nought is truly untranslatable in any advanced language; it is rather laziness which impedes this.