One of my odder theological habits lines up with my rabid love of words. Often, when boggled by a thought or experience, I seize on a central word and etymologize the hell out of it. This seems comparable with some scholars' lust for eighteen million translations of the bible. (I share the inclination but not the drive for that one. Too lazy.)
In the light of my current struggles, I was thinking of how my heart thrilled to the use of the word "tender" in Early Friend's writing. Kwakersaur's comment on this perhaps being the condition of the newly convinced made me think of it again. Bear with me on this, there's something amazing at the end.
Here's the dictionary definition.
ten·der 1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (tndr)
adj. ten·der·er, ten·der·est
Easily crushed or bruised; fragile: a tender petal.
Easily chewed or cut: tender beef.
Young and vulnerable: of tender age.
Frail; delicate.
Sensitive to frost or severe cold; not hardy: tender green shoots.
Easily hurt; sensitive: tender skin.
Painful; sore: a tender tooth.
Considerate and protective; solicitous: a tender mother; his tender concern.
Characterized by or expressing gentle emotions; loving: a tender glance; a tender ballad.
Given to sympathy or sentimentality; soft: a tender heart.
Nautical. Likely to heel easily under sail; crank.
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Okay... now for the fun stuff.
tender (adj.)
"soft, easily injured," c.1225, from O.Fr. tendre "soft, delicate, tender" (11c.), from L. tenerem (nom. tener) "soft, delicate, of tender age," from PIE *ten- "stretch" (see tenet).
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Stretch? Oooh, interesting. Let's see tenet, as suggested
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"principle," properly "a thing held (to be true)," 1413, from L. tenet "he holds," third person singular present indicative of tenere "to hold, to keep, to maintain" from PIE base *ten- "to stretch" (cf. Skt. tantram "loom," tanoti "stretches, lasts;" Pers. tar "string;" Lith. tankus "compact," i.e. "tightened;" Gk. teinein "to stretch," tasis "a stretching, tension," tenos "sinew," tetanos "stiff, rigid," tonos "string," hence "sound, pitch;" L. tendere "to stretch," tenuis "thin, rare, fine;" O.C.S. tento "cord;" O.E. thynne "thin"). Connection notion between "stretch" and "hold" is "to cause to maintain." The modern sense is probably because tenet was used in M.L. to introduce a statement of doctrine.
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There is so much amazing stuff there to be unpacked. If you go even further you can find direct links in translation from this to "created." Being stretched, woven, knit together, made new, reborn, re-created. To be convinced, each moment will mean being made infinitely tender, and then somehow managing to be both infinitely tender and infintely strong. I hate spiders passionately, but I'm siezed with the lessons and metaphors of spider-web silk.
Of The Best Stuff, but Cracked
1 comment:
Liz from Minnesota here. I read this particular post a number of days ago and I've returned to it, hoping that someone would add a note about how the word/concept of "tender"--as in "to be made tender"--is used currently among (some) Friends. ...I feel incomplete without such a comment, so I'll write a bit about my own experience.
When I sense a certain movement of the Spirit, when I am being asked to do something beyond what I believe I can, there are times when I sense a "tendering" of myself... a rawness or vulnerability or openness through which God can more readily speak to me, or I can more readily be a faithful servant if I can remain tender. It's a feeling similar to "being broken open" in such a way that I CAN know God's presence more fully... but being tender is not as overwhelming as being broken open, in my experience. In my Quaker corner in Minnesota, a number of Friends of various ages and with various years of "convincement" use the word "tender," so for me, the word is alive today and not restricted to only early Friends.
I think the acceptance and occasional expectation that we ARE made tender is one of the things that I love about Friends.
Thanks for these great topics! ...Blessings, --Liz in Minnesota
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