Dionysus

Andrew Mason · 09 Dec 2010, 21:39 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: andrew.mason53 at googlemail.com (Andrew Mason)
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 21:39:23 +0000
Subject: (urth) Dionysus
Message-ID: <AANLkTimrpCTSrRArAqdvM1iEMVOr8oxObWSQF4XY=tvJ at mail.gmail.com>

>
James Wynn wrote:

>>> James Wynn-
>>> So...>>>>> Andrew Mason-
>> I find that most improbable. The title 'god of the vine' is a
>> translation of Greek and Latin phrases which referred to the grape
>> vine. Dionysus was the god of wine and of grapes and so of the plant
>> from which they come, the vine, in the historic sense of that term. He
>> is not the god of climbing plants generally. [snip]
>
> You know, these objections *might* possibly carry more weight with me if
> BEFORE I read The Book of the Short Sun, I had NOT noted that Quetzal
> tracked nicely with Dionysus

Objections to what? I'm not objecting to the idea that inhumi are
connected with Dionysus. I was only questioning your specific
statement that 'we agree that he's is the god of the "vine", not just
grape vines.I do not believe specific species of vines mattered to
Wolfe for this association one little bit'. That sounded as though you
thought Dionysus was traditionally venerated as the god of climbing
plants generally, and that Wolfe understood things this way, and it
did not occur to him that 'god of the vine' has anything specific to
do with grapes. I think Gerry read you that way as well. If you did
not mean this, I apologise.

I am sure Wolfe knows that this traditional title of Dionysus does
have to do with grapes. This, obviously, does not limit what he does
with the idea. A writer who can leap from 'thesis' to 'Theseus' and
from 'Minotaur' to 'Monitor' can certainly leap from one sense of
'vine' to another.

Lee Berman wrote:
>
> Formally, the word, "dissertation" is most likely to be used for the Ph.D. paper while
> "thesis" is most common for the final Masters project. That's my experience.

Yes, that's what I had in mind. In Britain it's the other way round. I
have heard Americans saying 'Oh, you don't mean a dissertation, you
mean a thesis' or vice versa often enough to assume this was
universal. But thanks, it's good to know in fact usage can be more
flexible.
>

Gerry Quinn wrote:

>> I thought the claim was that Dionysius

Nitpick: Dionysus. 'Dionysius' is a human name, one of whose bearers
was a Christian saint.

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