Re: CHAT: fiery spirits (was: THE WORLD OF THE JINN)
| From: | Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, October 17, 2003, 5:48 |
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On Thursday, October 16, 2003, at 11:48 , Andreas Johansson wrote:
> Quoting Ray Brown <ray.brown@...>:
[snip]
>> But Tolkien's elves, surely, were not spirits or 'invisible beings' that
>> could reveal themselves on occasion. They seem basically flesh & blood,
>> tho
>> fairer than us homines sapientes.
>
> Is pluralizing species names like that kosher?
Probably not - but how can you expect one brought up in the classics to use
singular 'homo sapiens' in apposition to the plural 'us'? :)
[snip]
>> Maybe - Paracelsus, I seem to recall, posited beings for each of the
>> 'four
>> elements'; 'salamanders' (not the amphibians thus names) IIRC were the
>> fire-spirits,
>> sylphs the air-spirits, ondines the water spirits and gnomes the earth
>> spirits.
>
> I believe the spelling's _undines_, but otherwise, that would be correct.
Your belief is correct. I'm exposed too much to French.
>> I would guess all religions (certainly most) have beliefs in spirit
>> beings
>> of
>> one sort or another. They are interesting per_se.
>
> What's arguably problematic here is that "spirit being" is a very vague
> concept.
Yep. What I mean is non-material, not of this physically perceived world.
Ray
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