Subject: (urth) urth: iam terminusne sum?

From: Nigel Price <nigelprice1 at compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 1998 17:04:12 +0000

In reply to my verbose speculations on the possible scriptural connotations
of the name of Severian's sword, Terminus Est, Wombat, a.k.a. Kevin
Maroney, wrote:

>>John 19:30 cum ergo accepisset Iesus acetum dixit consummatum est et
>>                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
>> inclinato capite tradidit spiritum
>>
>>("And when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said "It is finished" and
>>bowed his head and gave up his spirit.") 

Yeah, bummer isn't it?  Definitely "consummatum est" ("it is accomplished")
rather than "terminus est" in the Vulgate.  I still haven't found my copy
of the Vulgate, though it must be around here somewhere, so, on Saturday
night, I thought I'd have a look on the web to see if there was an on-line
Vulgate anywhere - and, sure enough, there is, at...

        gopher://ftp.std.com:70/00/obi/book/Religion/Vulgate/

And, of course, I looked at John 19.30 and found "consummatum est", which
just about put the tin lid on a bad day, much of the afternoon of which I
had spent face down in the quagmire of Minety playing fields while Fairford
RFC put 45pts past us (ie the Minety 2nd XV - my apologies, we're talking
rugby here, fellow lupophiles).

It would have been better to have owned up there and then, but I was
feeling somewhat sore (bruised ribs? sprung cartilage?) and went to bed
instead.  It's a fair cop, though.

Did I mention that I also found a translation of the Bible into Pig Latin
whilst I was nosing around on the web?  It's a perfectly absurd piece of
misapplied industry and diligence, but you can find it at:

        http://www.dnai.com/~earl/old/Ible-bay/

Also came across a page dedicated to a parody by Bob Kanefsky of a song
entitled "Terminus Est" by an SF author and filk singer called Julia
Ecklar.  Anyone know either the song or the parody?  You can find the
parody page (not much information on the lyrics, I'm afraid) at:

        http://www.songworm.com/db/source-song/TerminusEst.html

>>It's always a danger to assume that words in other languages have the
same
>>connotations and nuances that they do in English, of course. 

Absolutely...  Though my Latin dictionary gives "end, conclusion" as one of
the possible meanings of "terminus", and that is the sense in which Cicero
seems to have used it (eg "terminus contentionum" = "the end of the
struggle").

No doubt about it, my theory about the significance of the name "Terminus
Est" is considerably weakened by the fact that the Vulgate does not use
this particular wording.  I still maintain that "It is finished" is a
legitamate translation of the name, though.

>>Otherwise, excellent rumination on grace, Christian imagery, etc.

Thank you.  Anyone have any comments on my suggested interpretation of
"Free Live Free"?

Nigel Price
Minety, Wiltshire
England

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