The Μαθηματικοι

[Sean B. Palmer]

One could make an interesting biography comparing the Ακουσματικοι
with the proto-Catholics and the Μαθηματικοι with (at least) the
Valentinian Gnostics. Could we say that much of our intellectual
history has been shaped by the Gnostics winning, and the
mathematicians losing, at the wrong time?

[Lauri Love (nsh)]

That's the akousmatikoi ('listeners'), and mathēmatikoi ('learners') -- the two sects or schools into which pythagorianism roughly split -- if like me you're not into all this wanky ostentatious and entirely superfluous ejaculation of greekiferous fluids onto the otherwise pure and chaste breasts of sensible glyphage.

2010/7/19 Sean B. Palmer <s...@miscoranda.com>

--
Comment at http://groups.google.com/group/whits/topics
Subscribe to http://inamidst.com/whits/feed

[Noah Slater]

On 19 Jul 2010, at 13:30, Lauri Love (nsh) wrote:

[…] onto the otherwise pure and chaste breasts of sensible glyphage.

Am I strange for wondering if glyphage meant symbol eater?

[Lauri Love (nsh)]

Am I strange for wondering if glyphage meant symbol eater?

No, that's pretty understandable. Though in coinage, it's rare to subsume repeated elements, such as the "ph" in glyph + phage. You'd probably get "glyphophage". 

I'm sure you do find this kind of elision in certain word constructions though. 

Can anyone think of any?