Quote:
Originally Posted by chi-o_cat
I’m kind of curious about the reason for this question. Are you thinking a GLO would not want a member who studies Ancient Greek because that person might nitpick the group’s name/meaning? Are they afraid that someone would discover that the Greek letters don’t actually stand for the words that their organization has held most sacred for all these years? Or that the secret motto was incorrectly translated by the founders one hundred years ago, and nobody ever noticed it before?
“My brothers, it turns out our fraternal duty is not to Live With Strong Convictions, it is actually to Rule With Violent Tendencies.”
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Not quite (though I can't top "Rule with Violent Tendencies" (and that would make a great name for a rock band)) more that the fratenrity/sorority would be concerned that pledge having that knowledge might disrupt in some way the order of learning things for pledges/new members. If, for example, a fraternity's officers are referred to be greek letters and in week one, the pledge goes "huh, put together, they spell out the greek word for oversee". which is either explained much latter in the program *or* in the brotherhood/sisterhood ceremony.
I'm thinking less an incorrect translation and more something more subtle. For example, if a fraternity or sorority were to have Love as one of the cardinal principles, using Eros or Storge would be very different than using Agape. All would be translations of Love, but very different connotations. Note, this would be much less likely for groups formed in the 19th century when a decent number of students actually took classical greek than ones formed post WWII.