It's another hot summer day here in the middle of the country. I made it into the office today to get some work done, mostly because there were big books waiting for me in the library and I didn't want to take them home. Just how big are these books? They are as wide as balance beams and I could use them for about 10 different calisthenic exercises (and thus help myself fit back in to my slacks before the fall term starts). I already exercised this morning though, so I decided to give myself a big mental exercise while reading the dictionary today instead.
Today's dictionary is in German and it has word histories of old words related to Germanic words. The second volume is a key to the first volume. Because I don't speak Indogermanic, I use volume 2 to look up the words I want to find in volume 1 and, if the word is listed, I am given a page number. The words in volume 2 are listed alphabetically by language. My adventure today had me looking up word roots from Geraldine's database in German, English, Russian, Old Church Slavic, Latin, Italic, Old Irish and Greek. I saved the Greek for last. Actually, I was going to ignore that it was even there and hope that no one noticed I didn't look up Greek etymologies when they read the drafts of my dissertation. Since that was a stupid thing to hope for, I checked the department office to see if the coast was clear to make copies of what I need from this dictionary. My secretary was still around, so I pouted, then started reading Greek. Greek is complicated because a) I've never studied Greek, b) it is the only language listed in this dictionary with a different script, c) I transcribed my Greek notes into a Latin script about 3 years ago, d) I never attended a university with a Greek system to help me recognize the Greek alphabet, and e) I hate math. Not wanting to let the fact that I never attended a toga or frat party hold me back from this last year of college, I suffered through the Greek section and found about 5 more roots that weren't cross referenced in the other terms I found. Yay! About a month ago, my office mate and I wasted a good afternoon taking dorky quizzes online to see how much random knowledge we had (and of course see who knew more useless knowledge than the other). We took a Greek alphabet quiz and earned 100%. It seems that between watching Revenge of the Nerds and being forced to take 4 math classes in my college career, I can fake my way through reading Greek words. Won't Indi be proud of me? Maybe I'll keep the I've-never-been-to-a-toga-party part to myself for a while...
Then again, maybe I should host a massive toga party this year. We can be like the philosophy department a floor above us and have a party in our offices late at night. Only our party will be better because we're not the philosophy department and two other linguists around here want a margarita bar in their office.... Hmmm.....
While walking from the library to my office, I passed a fountain that appears on every campus advertisement the university publishes (probably because it's one of the only pretty things on this whole campus). As I passed the fountain, I was overwhelmed by an urge to run through it, splash, swim and laugh. I resisted and fantasized doing those activities with flippers on my feet and a snorkel in my mouth on the first day of fall term instead. Or maybe I'll wait until I pass my dissertation defense. Indi can pronounce me Dr. Kelsie and I'll run directly to the fountain and start a new department tradition.
These may seem like random ideas, but as the summer comes to an end and I start my last year as a student here, I keep having moments during which I realize that I won't be a student again after this. This will be my 9th year of college and, unlike the other times I graduated, there isn't another degree to earn after this. Instead, I'll be the professor deciding who is able to earn a degree. As that approaches, I'm becoming aware of the gaps in my knowledge. A person with a PhD should be able to read some Greek and Latin. Even though it was difficult and I have a Greek dictionary waiting for me at home, maybe I shouldn't be so intimidated.
With that written, I'm going to the department office and making copies and I will ignore that my department chair is still in his office next to the copy machine on a Thursday night, after house, in summer. Maybe he can read Greek too and help me out.
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