26/01/2018

يشرف الحق

Al-Kindi. On first philosophy 103.4-8. (My trans.)
We should not feel ashamed for appreciating the Truth and from acquiring it from where it may come, even if it should come to us from distant races and from different peoples. For someone who seeks the Truth, there is nothing that takes precedence to the Truth [itself], there is nothing, in whoever speaks it or brings it, that could take value away from it, and we can never disregard them [whoever they happen to be]. The Truth never humiliates - it ennobles. 
وينبغي لنا أن لا نستحي من استحسان الحق، واقتناء الحق من أين أتى، وإن أتى من الأجناس القاصية عنا، والأمم المباينة، فإنه لا شيء أولى بطالب الحق من الحق. وليس يبخس الحق، ولا يصغر بقائله ولا بالآتي به. ولا أحد بخس الحق؛ بل كان يشرفه الحق.

24/01/2018

14/01/2018

Heraclitus in Sumerian

§1

John. L. Hayes. (2000) A Manual of Sumerian Grammar and Texts p.193 Undena Publications.

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til - This sign has several readings and meanings in Sumerian. In its reading as til, it is equated with Akkadian gamāru, laqātu, and qatû. The CAD glosses qatû as "1. to come to an end, to be used up, 2. to perish, 3. to become completed, finished, settled". In the causative stem, šuq is glossed as "to bring to an end." 
The word til meaning "to live" has occurred several times, notably in the formula nam-til3-la-ni-še3 ["for his life"]. It is curious that the words "to live" and "to come to an end" are homophones, both being pronounced /til/. They are, however, written differently: "to live" is written by the til3 sign, , and "to come to an end" by the til-sign, . [...] As discussed under Phonology, the existence of such apparent homphones as til and til3  has led numerous scholars to suggest that Sumerian was a tonal language.

§2

βιός· τῷ τόξῳ ὄνομα βίος ἔργον δὲ θάνατος 
Heraclitus DK B48
Bow [biós] - the name is life [bíos], yet the work is death.