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On names and naming

  • Aug. 27th, 2006 at 9:23 AM
jic: Daniel Jackson (SG1) firing weapon, caption "skill to do comes of doing" (Default)
One of the things I learned back in EFM yr 1 was that in some (ancient) cultures the practice of giving captives new names was in order to demonstrate power and control over the captives.  E.g., Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were assigned new names Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo when they were captured by Nebuchadezzar (Daniel 1:1-7).

I think of that every time John Sheppard names a Wraith: Steve, Bob, Michael.

And so I found it extra significant that Sheppard didn't assign a name to the Wraith in Common Ground, with whom he conspired, joked, and escaped -- and to whom Sheppard did not break his word.

Comments

jic: Daniel Jackson (SG1) firing weapon, caption "skill to do comes of doing" (Default)
[personal profile] jic wrote:
Aug. 29th, 2006 12:20 am (UTC)
Oh, I'm sure it's probably still going on today in some parts of the world. But the ancient Hebrews were what I was studying, so that's what I had to cite. I'd hoped to give a nod to modern use of the custom with the parentheses.

Thanks for coming by, and for adding other evidence!