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Going beyond the prefix para
1. Going beyond the prefix para
The Greek prefix
"para" appears to mean
"beyond" and
not "parallel" which is the sense often used in English. The ancient Greek word
"παρά" ≈ "beyond", although some prefer the meaning of "
beside" because of the influence of Euclid's definition of a parallel line as a line
"beyond" another line in a plane such that the lines never touch.
From Euclid, a parallel line is a line just like another line in a plane, not that line, that is
"beyond" that line (from either direction) and never touches that line.
Some Greek words that make better sense using
"beyond" rather than "
parallel" include "
parable" and "
paradox".
2. Parallel lines
The Greek prefix «πάρα» is usually better translated (from ancient texts) and interpreted as (in modern Greek words) as "beyond" or "in addition to" and not with just the restricted meaning of "beside", as in parallel line.
3. Euclid
A parallel line, as defined by Euclid, is a line (in a plane), not that line, that is "beyond" or "in addition to" that line and which does not touch that line.
Once a prefix gets misunderstood, when moved to another language, that other language will start creating words using that misunderstood prefix, and that prefix gets established. So a "paralegal" works "beside" or "in parallel" to lawyers. And some of those words get loaned back into the original language.
4. Parallel lines and parables
What are parallel lines?
What does the "
para" in "
parallel" or "
parable" mean?
The same thing happened to the Greek prefix «
αντί» as "
anti", as in "
Antichrist" meaning "
in place of Christ".
5. Beyond the pain
