“An Account Of”

Several years ago, I spent some time wondering where the phrase “an account of” came from, or at least, why it had recently seemed to reach such prominence. I never did figure it out, and it’s a question that’s been sitting in the back of my mind ever since.

I was reading a passage from Gregory of Nazianzus today – his famous critique of Apollinarianism – when I ran across this sentence:

“Further let us see what is their account of the assumption of Manhood, or the assumption of Flesh, as they call it.”

Or in Greek:

“Τις δε και ο λογος αυτοις της ενανθρωπησεως, ιδωμεν, ειτουν σαρκωσεως, ως αυτοι λεγουσιν.”

In other words, the phrase “an account of” is really just a translation of the famous Greek stand-by, “logos”.

Well, that makes sense. And you learn something new every day.