The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-16
BYZANTINE LocorHETe.
Derivation Of the Term Trseel w q
lesspel Bostsaiss.

To " Eofron ov THE sur-sir. Wi
you permit q shy sprig o. the shamrock .,
rep out from hs Granny Ia the noun
tain ledge and give his impressions o.
wha1 he Thought when he frst tried I,
Eeak that tooth ch~atterfng epithet
Byzantine io~sothsts"7
What does II e and how does Il
apply7 Your clear and Instructive edi
torial article in THE srN expressed al
the encyclop9dle lore. leaving only the
chronological Significance to be studied
Evidently the old Greek word "loeos.'
meaning word, % familiar in our oom-
pound words ending in 'olosy.' formi
the hrst half of the epithet, while the
latter part suggests origin In the Greek
v0rb 'tiuhemi," meaning to put, or place
or arrange. Ergo. the logothete must be
a putter (not a golf putter. except he be
q Scotch ~logothete), OF q placer or II.
ranger OF words. To borrow a phrase
from my genial townsman Mr.. Thomas
w. Lawson q logothete must be an
architect Of . builder Of q "wordjam,' -
or to state II NOR concisely, a iogothete
In a "wordjannner." Now as a good
many words are no more than SO much
wind Il IL feasible to deduce that a
w~ordJammer Is at times a windjammer.
So much for the noun part of the
epithst
Now for the adjective. why call him
byzantine" logothete? We know that
the Bysantines represented the smart
est, most eficlent and consunmateiy
skilful people OF the world In. say. from
TOO 20 1000 A D.. II has been said tina.
one Turk could get the best Of Ave Jews
In q trade or bargain and that ono
Armenian could easily beat nve TURKS
At a bargain. Now the Bryant mes who
are the children Of the Armenians and
Turks were more skuful han a Wall
street broker OF the present day who
deah In puts and calls and manages to
catch everything both sides Of the street.
going and coming. Thus a Byzantine
logothete In simply a oonsurnmate past
master at handling words.
He Ia able to his "wordjtm"
to arouse. soothe, cheer. mislead, anger,
enlighten or blind his hearers. A stimu-
lating or angering ~'wordjain'' might be
called a brickbat. or. as they say in
ireland. a dornick: while a soothing.
qufet, peaceful or meaningless WORD
Jam" might be called a feather pillow.
Which Of these meanings carries with
II the literary parallel Colonel Roose-
welt Intended should be applied TO Presi-
dent Wilson'S message?
In your editorial article you spoke Of
the snakes OF ireland. n l must con-
fess I failed TO see tho point. because I
believe there are snake in Ireland rs
well as Banshees, glib orators, and many
very queer things. some Of which in
years gone by ave escaped 10 this
country. but | never heard OF any Irish
logothetes except u two recent Mayors
OF Boston. who might possibly corne
under the definition.
A Scotch logothete Is feasible. since
Scots often talk Just for the sake OF
uttering. and they are very patient ut
terere. throwing out words hero and
there at random. then w~atchfully wait
ing the result. Their patience and
waiting are synonymous and
resemble very much their stubbornness.
or. ] ehould say. that peculiar stubborn
ness so manifest when the Scot Is i'm
In his convictions which IL his
usual condition. This patient. stubborn.
waiting is what makes them
sue starch friends and AZ the same
time such implScable and uncomfortable
enemies.
! trust that these hints will help your
worthy correspondent III. NJ" OF De-
IL to get at the real truth abou,
the logothete, whether the latter he a
Scot, celt or American.
BosroS, December Is. Y. w. II