A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
In Philippians 4, Paul expresses thanksgiving for a gift that the Philippians sent to him while he was in prison. This section of the letter is therefore known as the Danklose-Dank or "Thankless Thank-you" among German and English commentators and scholars.
I've recently heard that folk in Mediterranean societies often do not say thank-you for gifts - it ends the coorespondence... folks want to continue giving and receiving, and for a variety of reasons, saying thank-you ends this circle of reciprocity.
Just for whatever it's worth, Peter White in his article "Amicitia and the Profession of Poetry in Early Imperial Rome" cites three instances in Pliny the Younger where he explicitly thanks friends of comparable status for some small gifts. There was emphasis, I think, from Rohrbaugh that one never says thank-you without ending hope for future exchange.
In Epistle 1.7.6, Pliny thanks Octavius Rufus for the gift of some dates. In 7.21.4 he thanks his senatorial colleague Cornutus Tertullus for a hen, and in 5.2 he thanks Calpurnius Flaccus for some thrushes. However, I looked in the Latin and the thank-you formulas seem interpretative to me, supporting the idea that thanksgiving for gifts is only implicit.
For example, in 1.7.6, Betty Radice in the Loeb edition of Pliny translates "accepisse me careotas optimas..." as "thank you for your most excellent dates" but I see literally "I accepted your excellent dates."
5.2.1 "Accepi pulcherrimos turdos..." "Thank you for the fine fieldfares..."
7.21.4 mirrors this construction... "Gallinam ut a te missam libenter accepti..." which Radice renders more literally, "I was delighted to receive the pullet..."
Here's some Latin words for thank-you...
http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl?thank
Radice certainly is much better at Latin than I, but the thanks-giving seems interpretative to me... he's just literally confirming receipt.
So we have, I think, three parallels to Paul's thankless thank-you.
Blessings,
Nathan
I've recently heard that folk in Mediterranean societies often do not say thank-you for gifts - it ends the coorespondence... folks want to continue giving and receiving, and for a variety of reasons, saying thank-you ends this circle of reciprocity.
Just for whatever it's worth, Peter White in his article "Amicitia and the Profession of Poetry in Early Imperial Rome" cites three instances in Pliny the Younger where he explicitly thanks friends of comparable status for some small gifts. There was emphasis, I think, from Rohrbaugh that one never says thank-you without ending hope for future exchange.
In Epistle 1.7.6, Pliny thanks Octavius Rufus for the gift of some dates. In 7.21.4 he thanks his senatorial colleague Cornutus Tertullus for a hen, and in 5.2 he thanks Calpurnius Flaccus for some thrushes. However, I looked in the Latin and the thank-you formulas seem interpretative to me, supporting the idea that thanksgiving for gifts is only implicit.
For example, in 1.7.6, Betty Radice in the Loeb edition of Pliny translates "accepisse me careotas optimas..." as "thank you for your most excellent dates" but I see literally "I accepted your excellent dates."
5.2.1 "Accepi pulcherrimos turdos..." "Thank you for the fine fieldfares..."
7.21.4 mirrors this construction... "Gallinam ut a te missam libenter accepti..." which Radice renders more literally, "I was delighted to receive the pullet..."
Here's some Latin words for thank-you...
http://catholic.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/lookdown.pl?thank
Radice certainly is much better at Latin than I, but the thanks-giving seems interpretative to me... he's just literally confirming receipt.
So we have, I think, three parallels to Paul's thankless thank-you.
Blessings,
Nathan