Pantocrator

Son of Witz · 04 Dec 2008, 18:48 · from 2008-December.txt.gz

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From: sonofwitz at butcherbaker.org (Son of Witz)
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:48:39 +0000
Subject: (urth) Pantocrator
Message-ID: <W1606216068113201228416519@webmail23>

Fair enough.

ok, I just ordered Castle of Days which the wolfewiki says contains Castle of the Otter contents.

I'll try to refrain until I've read it.

~witz


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mark Millman [mailto:markjmillman at gmail.com]
>Sent: Thursday, December 4, 2008 10:25 AM
>To: 'The Urth Mailing List'
>Subject: Re: (urth) Pantocrator
>
>Dear Mr. Watkins and Son of Witz,
>
>Actually, the _Lexicon Urthus_ definition of pantocrator is taken
>almost verbatim from Wolfe's own glossary entry for it in _The Castle
>of the Otter_ (page 28), so it shows what he was thinking when he used
>it.
>
>The etymology is as Son of Witz cites in his posts:  from _pant-_,
>meaning all--it's a combining form of _pan_--and _-kratia_, rule or
>ruler, as in "aristocrat", "kleptocracy", and "thalassocrat", deriving
>from _kratos_, strength or power.  However, the _Encyclopedia of the
>Middle Ages_ (page 1077) says of it:
>
>"Etymologically, the Greek word "pantocrator" means "all-ruler".  It
>was used regularly in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew
>_Sabaoth_, an attribute of Jahweh.  When the Christian profession of
>faith was formulated in Greek, the term _pantocrator_ was applied to
>*G-d the Father, but translated into Latin as _omnipotens_.  Thus
>pantocrator was taken to mean all-powerful rather than all-ruler.  In
>spite of its etymology, this would also seem to be the word's meaning
>in Byzantine Greek.  Omnipotence was also attributed to the *Holy
>Spirit, but more particluarly to God the Son who, as it were, usurped
>the attribute, so that by the 12th c. it was applied to *Christ almost
>exclusively."
>
>Wolfe's own definition, as Mr. Watkins points out, does seem to have
>been influenced by a confusion with pankration or pankratiast,
>possibly abetted by the Latin and Byzantine understandings of the
>word.
>
>Sometimes, Jupiter nods.
>
>Best,
>
>Mark Millman
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