reading Liddell & Scott

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humanengr
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reading Liddell & Scott

Post by humanengr »

The μαθ-ημα^τικός entry starts
A.= μαθητικός, fond of learning, Pl.Ti.88c.
II. scientific, “τὸ μ. εἶδος” Id.Sph.219c; esp. mathematical, μαθηματικός, ὁ, mathematician, Arist.Ph.193b31, EN1142a17, Phld.Acad.Ind.p.16 M., Ceb.34: ἡ-κή (sc. ἐπιστήμη) mathematics, Archyt.1 tit., Arist.Metaph.1026a14; αἱ -καί ib.26; φιλοσοφία μ. ib.19; τὰ μ. mathematics, Id.EN1151 a17; …
Am I correct to read that as indicating 1) Plato used the 'fond of learning' and 'scientific' senses in Timaeus and the Sophist, respectively; 2) Aristotle used the 'mathematical' and 'mathematician' senses in Nicomachean Ethics; and 3) Aristotle used the 'mathematics' sense in writing about Archytas and also in NE?

Just want to confirm I'm parsing the punctuation properly.
Thx

mwh
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Re: reading Liddell & Scott

Post by mwh »

It seems you mostly understand the punctuation. (The hard copy uses italics for the meanings and the works but not for authors, which makes the entries easier to follow.) You misread “Archyt.,” which refers to Archytas as an author not as a work by Aristotle. If it was Aristotle it would have “Arist.” in front of it, since we’ve had other authors intervening (Philodemus and Cebes).
Your “the ‘mathematics’ sense” is a bit misleading, since the entry distinguishes fem.sing. and neut.pl., each with their respective articles. And more generally it’s misleading to say that someone or other uses the word in this or that sense, ignoring the contextual information provided in the LSJ entry. The word really means only one thing, which English variously renders according to context.

humanengr
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Re: reading Liddell & Scott

Post by humanengr »

Thanks -- the prompts for my asking were the WP Mathematics entry:
The word mathematics comes from Ancient Greek μάθημα (máthēma), meaning "that which is learnt",[23] "what one gets to know", hence also "study" and "science". The word for "mathematics" came to have the narrower and more technical meaning "mathematical study" even in Classical times.[FN: Both senses can be found in Plato. μαθηματική. (citing L&S)]
and Etymonline's mathematics entry:
"the science of quantity; the abstract science which investigates the concepts of numerical and spatial relations," 1580s; see mathematic (the older form of the word in English, attested from late 14c.) + -ics. Originally one of three branches of Aristotelian theoretical science, along with first philosophy (or metaphysics) and physics (or natural philosophy).

I'm trying to discern who deserves credit for use of 'mathematics' in its modern sense between Archytas, Plato, and Aristotle. Re Archytas, thx again — I had missed that the L&S cite was to the title of Archytas's Fragment I.

Re that Fragment -- Iiuc, it was Porphyry who titled it 'On Mathematics' while Nicomachus titled it 'Harmonics' (per Huffman and Johnson's review of Huffman) The translations shown on Huffman's pp. 105 and 108 (last para) and Johnson's p. 5 (which cites Huffman 105) do not include 'mathematics' in the body of the fragment.

So while the 3rd sentence, "Indeed concerning the speed of the stars and their risings and settings as well as concerning geometry and numbers and not least concerning music, they handed down to us a clear set of distinctions. For these sciences seem to be akin. (Fr. 1.1-7; 105-106)" is the source of what became known in the Middle Ages as the 'quadrivium' (mathematical arts/sciences: logistic (arithmetic), geometry, astronomy and music), there is no record of Archytas's use of the term.

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