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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 18h

No worries! I am much less active here, but do pop in from time to time.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

A hazard of cross-media screenshotting. No hard feelings!

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

Because funding bodies, research metrics, and job applications demand publications: that's the source of the 'expected rate'.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

I'm glad you conjured such a vivid image of me! A physics denier! What fun!

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

No, I think that we are expected to create knowledge by funding bodies and research metrics much faster than is actually possible, and so have to publish a lot of half-baked material.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

Intriguing! Please say more.

Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

I'll keep that in mind, thanks!

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 1d

I don't mind being screenshotted in from the Other Place, but please do tag me too so that I can see the discussion!

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 2d

That is actually the e-grade: I made a minor mistake doing this from memory.
bsky.app/profile/davi...

David Stifter 🍵📄🦊 @davidstifter.bsky.social · 4d

No.

e-grade: sit < *sede-
o-grade: set < *sodei̯e-

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 7d

Looking forward to this tremendously!

Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 7d

It’s the zero-grade that always gets you!

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 21d

Just making sure the historians don’t go getting any ideas…

Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 21d

- 'Classical period' does most of that work anyway
- We over-rate the Peloponnesian War thanks to Thucydides
- People would actually have to care about the period 404-338 BC

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 24d

'etymology of soot' has quite a ring to it, reminiscent somehow of Hamlet's 'quintessence of dust'.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 24d

Like 'nest' not immediately obvious, but logical in a perfective sort of sense: 'something which has settled'

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 24d

'sit' is, I believe, the only English word to preserve all of its original IE ablaut grades:

0: nest
e: set
long e: seat
o: sat
long o: soot

Yoïn van Spijk @yvanspijk.bsky.social · 24d

Historically, the word 'nest' consists of two parts.

The part 'ne-' is related to 'nether', while '-st' is related to 'sit'.

The distant ancestor of 'nest' meant "place to sit down".

'Nest' is also related to Spanish 'nido' and its Romance relatives.

Click my new graphic to learn more:

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · 28d

😬 good luck!

Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Sep 11

Strike it not, Banquo...

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Sep 10

For philology qua philology, I am not convinced that this is a bad thing; but there is of course more to Classics than constituting a text.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Sep 10

I am reminded, reading this, of the anecdote about Shackleton Bailey refusing to attend a conference entitled 'What is Philology?' on the grounds that he would rather be doing it. To its practitioners, the project is so self-evident that introspection becomes heresy.

R F Kennedy (not Jr.) @kataplexis.bsky.social · Sep 9

Philology: the Best of All Possible Methods? A response to the apology.

planudes.medium.com/the-best-of-...

The Best of All Possible Methods

The Gold and Katz Defense of Philology

planudes.medium.com

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Sep 4

This would be the end of international PhD students in America: www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Aug 30

Nice one! Very very hard to find at a reasonable price.

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Reposted by Theo Nash

Neville Morley @nevillemorley.bsky.social · Aug 29

Chicago Classics as Rorschach blot, and ‘divide and rule’ in the 21st-century university.

thesphinxblog.com/2025/08/29/r...

Rats In A Sack

On the one hand, what’s happening in the University of Chicago – the (supposedly temporary) suspension of recruitment to PhD programmes in Classics as well as other disciplines that require s…

thesphinxblog.com

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Aug 28

The cynic in me says the exam will be back within three years.

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Theo Nash @theonash.bsky.social · Aug 27

The American School of Classical Studies seems to have removed the traditional exam for the Regular Year, opting instead to interview students: www.ascsa.edu.gr/programs/reg...

• An Interview (on Zoom) with members of the Admissions and Fellowships Committee will be scheduled following the deadline for applications. The Committee's questions will be circulated in advance of the application deadline.

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