Mt 8:5-10 is back-translated into Hebrew by M. Lowe and David Flusser
of the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research in ** ew Testament Studies
29.1, January.1983 **, page 29. Lowe and Flusser comment that the
whole passage is ** translatable almost word for word into typical
Hebrew of the period **. They back-translate EIPE LOGWi as as ** 'mor
dabhar ** . Unfortunately this may not help us very much here, since **
'mor dabhar ** could also translate EIPE LOGON, and therefore throws no
light on what sort of dative LOGWi is.
If the official was a centurion, however, should we not also be
considering whether the phrase might be a Latinism? The Vulgate
rendering of EIPE LOGWi in both Mt 8:8 and Lk 7:7 is DIC VERBO.
Now DIC VERBO can be literally translated - ** make a pronouncement by
means of a spoken word ** .
Equally, EIPE LOGWi can be literally translated -** make a pronouncement
by means of a spoken word ** .
It would seem, therefore, that in Mt 8:8 and Lk 7:7, LOGWi could be an
instrumental dative in Greek reflecting an instrumental ablative in
Latin. EIPE LOGWi may be Greek which has been given a deliberate Latin
turn of phrase to befit a centurion.
BRIAN WILSON