The Theology of Heraclitus: a Presocratic Pantheism

03C. lnEerpretation of Fr.30As ls oftea the case,, the correct interpretatLon of 830depends upon !he right under6tandlng of certalr key terttrs ardexpres6Lons, Thexe a!e three important expiesslonE ln f:..30that of!en raise debate aftong coDmentators. These are l) theueanlog of kosmos, ii) the neanlng of the Polar exPresslon,aad i1t) the rneaailg o! "everllvLng fire". Only r.heo we haveattalned ao accurate understandlng of these \tords w111 ltehave an understandlng of the saylng as a whole. TherefoEe,Iet us exanlne each of these points ln turn'!) KOtMOt- A11 the anc!enrs except for Alexandei ofAphrodlsias (see above, p.100-t) agree that kosnos ln thlsfr. refers to the "worId", probably ln the seIIse of "unlverse".This cons!ltutes a Sreat deal of evldence for thls translatlon,yet it is proper !o lnqulre 1f Alexaoder nlgh! not havebeen right after all. Did !gqg!! Erean 'world" for n'? wtthgood reason lhis has been doubted in !0oilein tines, especlallyby Kirk. l-et us exanlne the evldence and argunent s concernlnBthe early Eeanlng of !g!Igj.The etynology of the lrord ls uncertaln,T0 but theearlles! uses of the r,'ord 1n Holrer are unanblSuously tron-cosmologlcal,either refe!rlng rorordertorra!rangenentt,sonetiDesmore specifically refer!ing torneat array' (especlally70rhe .tlonology is confidently given by KiEk (p.312) as conrngfrom *te6- neaning "ordet", but Rahn calts this a rrbere f11ght of fancy"and says that the word has 'ho etynology worthy of the nanerr (Anaxirander,220). This does no! stop authors of et)'oological dictionarles froE sPecu-Iatlng on the origin of the wo!d, though so far this has only led to asnanv theories as there are dictionaries.