Re: The Etymology of the Name Laodice
Kassios,
Let's forget (for the moment) the task of translating the meaning of LAODIKE into a short, cryptic phrase. Can we now negotiate and reach an agreement for an excellent English translation of LAODIKE in terms of a single, comprehensive and authoritative statement?
Personally, I could easily accept translating LAODIKE literally as "people judgment" (which I think of as "human judgment") if we could agree on how to qualify that further. Translating LAODIKE as the "judgment of the people" is clearly misleading. The ambiguity of that translation would suggest the possibility that people are being judged. I see no chance of that being a possible meaning. Hopefully you agree with my basic understanding that LAODIKE means that people are expressing a human judgment. How would you like to qualify this translation further?
I propose this sentence:
LAODIKE (literally, "people judgment") means "the way of the people", specifically, the way that people judge—by traditions, according to the most popular view of order and what the majority think is right.