From:
srenner@... [mailto:
srenner@...]
>--- In concatenative@egroups.com, wtanksley@b... wrote:
>> Does a native Greek speaker "see" 'naus' as 'boat'?
>> The answer is "yes and no". The native Greek speaker doesn't
>> translate to
>> English before he understands the words of Greek; however, when he
>> sees 'naus' he may get a picture in his head which looks very much
>> like
>The idea that words have their meanings by virtue of pictures in the
>head is wrong.
That's exactly why I said 'may get' rather than 'gets'. He's free to not
get a picture, and he'll understand the word -- but if he gets a picture,
it'll look something like the one I, a native English speaker, am capable of
getting.
It won't look exectly the same for two reasons: first, the two words mean
subtly different things, and second, my boats are different from his boats.
Yes, language is one of my pastimes. Mainly as they pertain to classical
poetry -- Greek and Latin.
-Billy