Incorrect etymology of Ambrosiaster on the product page

[jlm]

The page for the ACT Ambrosiaster commentaries explains the name as "Star of Ambrose," which would be Ambrosius + aster. This immediately struck me as wrong because (1) it would make no sense for someone rejecting the attribution to Ambrose to coin a name with positive connotations, and (2) because I know other words with the suffix -aster, and they have nothing to do with stars. Today I came across something to quote: "The word is derived from the pejorative suffix –aster attached to 'Ambrosius'" (David G. Hunter, "The Author, Date, and Provenance," in T.S. De Bruyn et al., Ambrosiaster's Commentary on the Pauline Epistles: Romans [sBL Press, 2017], p. xxiii). This corresponds to my understanding, although the suffix can also indicate an imperfect resemblance, as a patraster (father-in-law) is not quite a pater (father). So the sense of the term would probably be "a poor excuse for Ambrose," though it might be "the Ambrose-like author." Although there is much to appreciate in Ambrosiaster's exegesis, to a Renaissance humanist he is a poor excuse for Ambrose because Ambrose knew Greek and extensively used Greek authors, while Ambrosiaster relied on an imperfect Latin translation of the Bible and didn't care for Greek exegetes.

 

[R. Mansfield]

You are correct. The description on that page comes straight from IVP, and I noticed that even a competitor uses the same wording. I don't know if using "a poor excuse for Ambrose" would encourage sales :-)

[jlm]

You are correct. The description on that page comes straight from IVP, and I noticed that even a competitor uses the same wording. I don't know if using "a poor excuse for Ambrose" would encourage sales :-)

Probably not :-). The simplest fix is to just drop the explanation of the name.