Ologies and Religious Terms and Number Terms

I discussed dorcastry and iscariotic in the previous essay. Let's finish our religious terms by beginning with poimenics. Poimenics is the old word for pastoral theology. A pastor is a "shepherd" who watches the flock. The word poimen in Greek is a shepherd. It was first used by German theologian J.H.A. Ebrard in his 1854 Vorlesungen ueber praktische Theologie, and was translated into English by the great German-American Church historian Philip Schaff in 1857: "The author (i.e., Ebrard) presents a spirited and suggestive outline of..the theory of pastoral care or poimenics." One wonders what Ebrard's theory was and whether it would hold water today. I think if anyone caught you saying the word "poimenics" on the campus of a theological seminary today, you would probably be thrown out without a chance to explain yourself.

There are a host of words beginning with prosel-- and the Bee word was proselyting. A proselyte is one who has "come over to" (proserchomai) a different religious opinion. Therefore, we have such terms such as proselytizing, proselytization, proselytize and proselytism. I am sure you more than get the idea. You might think I am even trying to convert you into using the word.

Then, we have hamartiology, the doctrine of sin. Just as soteriology is about the Christian doctrine of salvation, and anthropology describes the human condition state, so hamartiology treats of our hamartia or our "missing the mark." Some theology textbooks consider hamartiology to be a subset of anthropology. Actually, the Century spells the word hamartialogy, which really messes us up, but we should learn it as hamartiology. Ponerology means pretty much the same thing as hamartiology, but usually ponerology is translated as "a theory or doctrine of evil." The word was first used in 1872 in the Princeton Review, the bastion of Reformed theological thinking. Though Reformed theologians are always celebrating the grace of God, they actually spend more time inventing words for evil than words for grace. Actually, a 1978 article appearing in Theology Today, also a product of Princeton Theological Seminary, distinguishes hamartiology and ponerology. It says: "When it comes to the question of the human predicament, a more adequate theological anthropology will go beyond hamartiology to ponerology." Wouldn't that make a catchy title for my next book: "Beyond Hamartiology." It would literally fly off the shelves.

Before leaving sin and evil, I think we ought to mention one more word relating to it: peccant or peccancy. The former is defined as: "guilty of a moral offense" or "violating a principle or rule." We have peccant humanity or, from a more recent publication, "The brilliant (if morally peccant) young politician from Arkansas." I wonder who this refers to? We have seen in another context how peccavi is used. We also have peccavimus, a "we have sinned" word. If we begin to cry peccavimus, it means that we are wrong, we have erred. Be sure you don't mistake peccancy or peccant with either peccary or pessary. The former is a gregarious wild swine while the latter is a vaginal suppository. And, of course, peccant is not piquant, though sometimes a peccant action can be quite piquant and even pique the attention of people.

On to Other Words--Relations and Numbers

Let's get a few "number" words straight, since sometimes they confuse. We need to spell property quasquicentennial and quinquevir. I think a lot of people will fall into a trap of spelling the latter with another "i" instead of an "e," but we have to turn aside to see why these words should be so spelled. The quinque is the number "five" in Latin, and when you combine it with vir, you have a "five man" council. Let's march through some terms that might or might not make it into English, but which you should have in your mind.

Two men--duumvir.
Three men--triumvir. Remember the "First Triumvirate"?
Four men--quadrumvir.
Five men--quinquevir.
Ten men--decemvir.
Fifteen men--quindecemvir.
One Hundred men--centumvir.

This ought to get you through the most difficult cocktail party. But the words for "ith"--like the hundred twenty-fifth--are even more challenging. We have

One hundred twenty-fifth--quasquicentennial.
One hundred fiftieth--sesquicentennial.

Let's take these words apart. By the way, we have a list of various words for anniversaries here. I think I may give some of the more obscure ones below. In any case, sesquicentennial goes back to 1880 in English and is a contraction of "semis-que"--a half in addition--and the word centennial, meaning 100. Thus, sesquicentennial is, literally, semisque(i)centennial, but that is too difficult to pronounce, and so we drop off the "mi" near the beginning. While we are on this word it is interesting to notice what sesquipedalian means. That is a word that normally trips up spellers, but if you take it apart, it falls right into place. A "pes" is a foot, and so the word sesquipedalian means a "foot and a half," and a sesquipedalian person is one who speaks words that are a "foot and a half" long.

But quasquicentennial is a much more modern term. A 1962 article tells how we got the word: "Delavan, Tazewell County, Ill., decided to hold a celebration in honor of the 125th anniversary of its founding...[Delavan] went to the Funk & Wagnalls dictionary people. From there it received the suggestion of 'Quasquicentennial,' meaning a hundred plus a fourth...F & W warned it wouldn't appear in a single one of its dictionaries until it establishes itself." Well, since everyone now wants to celebrate these anniversaries, especially since it gives occasion for a party and, usually, a fund-raiser, we see that we really do need the term. It is built on "quadrans" meaning "a quarter" and "centennial." It can't be called "quadricentennial" because that means "400th."

But, I won't leave this essay without giving you my favorite anniversary names. If quasquicentennial is one quarter plus 100, what would three quarters plus 100 be? Well, it is terquasquicentennial, though no self-regarding dictionary will ever have the word. And, my favorite? Sure, the "75th anniversary." Since the 150th is sesquicentennial and demi means "1/2," then the 75th is demisesquicentennial. These are terms that haven't caught on yet. Perhaps we are still not partying enough--or raising enough money. Time will tell.

I see I have gotten to the end of a second essay without even getting to my beloved "ologies." Next essay will be a sure thing for them.

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