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Re: ARSENOKOITHS
On Sat, 24 Sep 1994 Dvdmoore@aol.com wrote:
> Some of those examples seem to be more to the point than others.
> ANDROKOITHS and ADELFOKOITIA, for instance seem to be most analogous to the
> term ARSENOKIOTHS. Among those somewhat related analogically to the latter
> we might list KLEYIKOITHS and possibly DEUTEROKOITEW AND POLUKIOTOS.
By assuming some are more related semantically than others, you are
already assuming the definition of _arsenokoitEs_ is known and able to be
compared with some select others.
> The verb ANDROKOITEW which L&S defines "sleep with a man" may be found in
> context in _Berliner griechische Urkunden_, (Berlin, 1895), 1058.30 dated to
> the first Century B.C. (i B.C). It is also used by Aetius Medicus (vi A.D.)
> 1.142. The context, in these cases would have to dictate how we understand
> these terms. I don't find ADELFOKOITIA in L&S, but, if it is to be found in
> extant literature, its meaning seems clear enough. KLEYIKOITHS is
> translated, "seeking illicit love," and carries the somewhat cryptic
> reference in L&S: "Ismenias ap. Ps.-Callist. 1.46" which I was unable to
> decipher. DEUTEROKOITEW is translated in L&S as simply, "to have a
> bedfellow," and the reference given is Athenaeus Grammaticus (ii/iii A.D.)
> 13.584b. POLUKOITOS and POLUKOITEW (I found the verbal form as well) L&S
> translate as "lying (or to lie, in the case of the verb) with many women or
> men." References to both are found in Vettius Valens Astrologus (ii A.D.)
> 118.5 and 75.9, al.
>
> By adding to these DOULOKOITHS and MHTROKIOTHS as mentioned above (The
> latter, BTW, is attested from the fifth century B.C.), we should have enough
> material to get a clearer idea of the meaning of ARSENOKOITHS in 1Cor. 6:9 if
> we could clarify the pertinent contexts.
I don't think any of these examples will be helpful for determining
the meaning of _arsenokoitEs_ in Paul. The mere existence of the
morphemes arsen- and -koit- in other combinations only proves that they
were lexically productive. That does, though, cast doubt on the idea
that _arsenokoitEs_ was a Pauline neologism based on Leviticus 20, since
as you say, many of them occur centuries before Paul wrote.
On the other hand, none of these compounds can be expected to
provide clues to the semantic boundaries of the word _arsenokoitEs_:
they show the broad range of meanings -koitEs can take in such compounds.
Common-sense etymology is worse than useless: I would have thought
_mEtrokoitEs_ meant someone who had sex with their mother, not just
any incestuous person; _deuterokoitEs_ could have been taken to mean
someone who had sex with two people at once, not just a person sleeping
with one other person; _borborokoitEs_ could conceivably have meant
someone who had sex with mud, not a frog that sits on the mud; _anemokoitEs_
could have been taken to mean someone who had sex with winds, not a
luller of winds; _enOtokoitEs_ could have been taken to mean someone
who had sex with ears, not someone with big ears.
All of these examples simply reinforce the idea that we should abandon
the mere morphological similarity of these words in the search for their
meanings, and instead look only to the context to decide the meanings of
these words.
Greg Jordan
jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu
References: