About a year and a half ago,tsuwm mentioned maieutic mostly because it had
four vowels in a row, mentioning only very briefly its application to Socrates' teaching method.
"Søren Kierkegaard's method, dictated by his volatile and provocative temperament, resembles
that of a fiction writer: he engages in multiple impersonations, assuming various poses and
voices with an impartial vivacity. The method is, in one of his favorite words, maieutic, from
the Greek term for midwifery, like that of his beloved model Socrates, who in his questioning style
sought to elicit his auditors' ideas rather than impose his own."
I would be surprised to find that Socrates would have welcomed the term being applied to his
activities. So far as I know, there were no male "midwives" in his day, and I suspect the men of
his era would have resented the term being applied to them.

maieutic
adj.
Gr maieutikos < maia, midwife, orig., mother: see MAIA6 designating or of the Socratic method of helping a person to bring forth and become aware of latent ideas or memories

I finally found a site that stated Socrates did compare his method to that of a midwife:
http://www.shimer.edu/deans/response_jw.htm

Sonnabendsorry, couldn't resist

Fascinating article, wwh. Thanks very much for posting the link.

I especially enjoyed reading the arguments about discussions that should be aborted and those that should be tended carefully with attention taken into which hands the precious ideas should be given. Some audiences would misuse precious information. So, it becomes a point of responsibility to the 'facilitator' (term in the article) to choose the parties in dialogue and to help worthy participants to bring forth their best ideas.

WW

Samstag I couldn't, either

Sighteardie to take this bit of absurdity a bit further

Sábado

or either

Shatterday

Samstag>Sighteardie>Sonnabend>Sábado>Shatterday...

sabbath, and the light dawns.

The Sabbath used to be the weekly application of soap and water.

The Saturday night application of sapo suds and abluting spray has made dispensable
the thurifer, with his thurible censer.

Now just a second here...and no, I'm not gonna look it up because I have to go offline for a little while:

Are you telling me that the "bath" in Sabbath has something to do with bathing? Really? If so, amazing. And, if so, I wonder why this isn't more widely known.

sabbath as the day of the bath is all washed up..

sabbath comes from shabat, from shavos, the hewbrew word for rest... good shabbas, is a common greeting here in NY on a friday.

it is also the root of sabbatical, since according to jewish law, not only do you rest once every seveth day, but you should also have a sabbital, and let your field lie fallow once every seven years, and forgive debt older than 7 years. teachering are one of the few career position that still enjoy the right to a sabbital.

the jewish philosphy of the sabbath is an interesting one.. i'll see if i can find some info on it...

Saturday is of course, Saturn day...

WW, tsuwm is engaged in a little reflexive extraction.

Dear WW: When I am preposterous, don't take me seriously. Incidentally, my dictionarys
first definition of "preposterious" is "originally, wth the first last and the last first, inverted"

Hi, of troy...

The sabbatical connection and the seven years:

What is the jubilee? Wasn't that an occasion for all debts being dropped, too? I don't recall how many years were involved, but it may have been seven years, too. I think it's a wonderful tradition and too bad it didn't have staying power. I suppose we have bankruptcy as a substitute.

The original jubilee was every fifty years. Debts were forgiven, slaves were freed, alienated properties were restored to original owners and the land was not tilled. Modern usage makes it any significant anniversary, particularly 25th, 50th, 60th or 75th.

(Freely stolen from AHD)

What is a jubilee? I'm glad you asked, because I did not know. My dictionary says:
jubilee
n.
ME < OFr jubile < LL(Ec) jubilaeus < Gr(Ec) ibbclaios < Heb ybbcl, a ram, ram‘s horn used as a trumpet to announce the sabbatical year: infl. by L jubilum: see JUBILATE 6
1 Jewish History a year-long celebration held every fifty years in which all bondmen were freed, mortgaged lands were restored to the original owners, and land was left fallow: Lev. 25:8-17
2 a) an anniversary, esp. a 50th or 25th anniversary b) a celebration of this
3 a time or occasion of rejoicing
4 jubilation; rejoicing
5 R.C.Ch. a year proclaimed as a solemn time for gaining a plenary indulgence and for receiving absolution, on certain conditions: an ordinary jubilee occurs every twenty-five years

sabbath comes from shabat, from shavos, the Hebrew word for rest

I thought they all came from the word meaning "seven," because the resting came on the seventh day. Am I all wet?

Only if you just got out of the bath. Or shower. Who bathes these days? The idea of
sitting in polluted water is revolting.

Sabbath - O.E. sabat "Saturday," observed by the Jews as
a day of rest, from L. sabbatum, from Gk. sabbaton, from
Heb. shabbath, from shabath "he rested." The Babylonians
regarded seventh days as unlucky, and avoided certain
activities then; the Jewish observance may have begun as a
similar custom. From the seventh day of the week, it began
to be applied c.1410 to the first day (Sunday), a change
completed during the Reformation. The original meaning is
preserved in Sp. Sabado, It. Sabbato, and other languages'
names for "Saturday." Sabbat "witches' sabbath" is 1652,
from the Fr. form of sabbath, a special application of the
word. Sabaoth (M.E.) is from Heb. sebaoth "hosts," plural
of saba "army," a word originally left untranslated in the
New Testament and "Te Deum" in the designation Lord of
Sabaoth, often confused with sabbath.

For a scholarly discussion too long to post here, see:
http://biblesabbath.org/tss/487/universa.html

it began to be applied c.1410 to the first day (Sunday)

I hadn't realized the shift was that late. Thanks again, Dr. Bill.