[ethopoeia]

[Kasper]

Perhaps the genius of this phrase is the exact ambiguity you describe?

[Bert]

[annis]

By the grace of his own god.

?

[ethopoeia]

Yes, the mystery lies indeed in the term δαιμων. More concretely, in the meaning of the collocation κατα + δαιμονα (accusative).

Wikipedia gives as the exact translation "true to his own spirit", which is a nice, yet wrong translation. The most faithful interpretation I've found is "in accordance with his daemon", which successfully translates κατα as "according to", yet fails to unearth the meaning of δαιμων intended by Admiral Morrison.

The solution to the enigma must be the actual meaning of δαιμων preceded by κατα. Any idea?

[chad]

when i first heard about this inscription i wondered if, in addition to its literal meaning, it was an allusion to how the ancient grks used to write RIP, i.e. καταχθονίοις θεοῖς (abbrev ΚΘ) on gravestones I've seen in museums, i think that's the wording they used from memory, or maybe it was the other way round, ie ΘΚ...

[ThomasGR]

[perispomenon]

actual meaning of δαιμων preceded by κατα.

In Homer daimonie can sometimes mean a self-willed person.

But I wouldn't dare say that 'will' or 'wish' is the actual meaning of δαιμων.

Found this in Middel Liddell: "kata daimona, nearly"

[ThomasGR]

[ethopoeia]

[perispomenon]

Some better translations have managed to grasp the ancient meaning of the term relating it to 'spirit' ("to the divine spirit within himself", "the geniality in his mind", "true to his own spirit"), as used by Socrates or Plato, yet I believe they fail to convey the actual meaning intended by Jim's father with the idiomatic collocation κατα followed by the noun δαιμονα in accusative

Somehow the way you posed your question, I thought you had inside information on what his father intended and that you wanted to test us

After reading ThomasGR's posts, I think 'true to his own spirit' is a fine translation. What's your reason for thinking it should be something else?

[ethopoeia]

[perispomenon]

And, just like Venus means "Love" in Ovid, I'm convinced that δαιμων means something very different here. ThomasGR has mentioned Neoplatonism (?)

I found this where there is also a listing of ancient references.

[Arvid]

[ThomasGR]

ethopoeia, after such a long period of silence, I thnk, it's time to reveal us what that old Greek-Spanish dictionary has to tell. Don't keep me more under this spell.

[ethopoeia]