Re: GLWSSA v. DIALEKTOS

Paul Zellmer (pzellmer@ix.netcom.com)
Sat, 02 Nov 1996 09:14:36 -0800

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Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1996 09:10:54 -0800
From: Paul Zellmer <pzellmer@ix.netcom.com>
Reply-To: pzellmer@ix.netcom.com
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To: Jonathan Robie <jwrobie@mindspring.com>
Subject: Re: GLWSSA v. DIALEKTOS
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Jonathan Robie wrote:
>
> I don't think this agrees with the usage in Acts 2. Each person heard in
> their own DIALEKTOS (th idia dialektw), and there is a list of the regions.
> The group included both Jews and proselytes, so I would expect that this
> means both dialects (*not* equivalent to DIALEKTOS) of Hebrew and of Greek.
> Cretans and Arabs would probably imply other languages as well.
>
Before we too quickly dismiss Carl's postulation, could not the use of
DIALEKTOS indicate how personalized was the hearing (and that *is* what
the text refers to: the hearing of the hearers, not *necessarily* the
speaking of the speakers). In other words, not only did they hear the
more generic GLWSSA, they heard their specific DIALEKTOS.
>
> There also seems to be parallelism between verse 8 (akouomen ekastos th idia
> dialektw) and verse 11 (akouomen lalountwn autwn tais hmeterais glwssais).
> This parallelism suggests broad equivalence to me, though another
> interpretation would be that that verse 8 stresses that they are speaking in
> all the local regional dialects (which would be quite a feat, even here in
> North Carolina), and verse 11 stresses that this was true even across
> completely different languages.
>
My suggested interpretation exactly, if you transfer the reference of
the pronoun "they" to the hearers who gathered and changed "speaking" to
"hearing".
>
> Here is the quote. I'm enclosing verse 12, which is not strictly relevant,
> simply because it describes a state in which I spend much of my life, and
> which seems particularly relevant to b-greek.
>
> Acts 2:7 (GNT) existanto de kai eqaumazon legontes: ouc idou apantes outoi
> eisin oi lalountes Galilaioi;
> Acts 2:7 (NASU) They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all
> these who are speaking Galileans?
> 8 (GNT) kai pws hmeis akouomen ekastos th idia dialektw hmwn en h egennhqhmen;
> 8 (NASU) "And how is it that we each hear [them] in our own language to
> which we were born?
> 9 (GNT) Parqoi kai Mhdoi kai Elamitai kai oi katoikountes thn Mesopotamian,
> Ioudaian te kai Kappadokian, Ponton kai thn Asian,
> 9 (NASU) "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia,
> Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
> 10 (GNT) Frugian te kai Pamfulian, Aigupton kai ta merh ths Libuhs ths kata
> Kurhnhn, kai oi epidhmountes Rwmaioi,
> 10 (NASU) Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around
> Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
> 11 (GNT) Ioudaioi te kai proshlutoi, Krhtes kai Arabes, akouomen lalountwn
> autwn tais hmeterais glwssais ta megaleia tou qeou.
> 11 (NASU) Cretans and Arabs--we hear them in our [own] tongues speaking of
> the mighty deeds of God."
> 12 (GNT) existanto de pantes kai dihporoun, allos pros allon legontes: ti
> qelei touto einai;
> 12 (NASU) And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying
> to one another, "What does this mean?"
>
> Jonathan
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Jonathan Robie
> POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C.
> Ph: 919.598.5728 Fax: 919.598.6728
> email: jwrobie@mindspring.com, jonathan@poet.com
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Paul Zellmer
Southern Methodist Missions