Mark 14:71 ὀμνύναι / Matthew 26:74 ὀμνύειν

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Jonathan Robie
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Mark 14:71 ὀμνύναι / Matthew 26:74 ὀμνύειν

Post by Jonathan Robie »

In the Greek New Testament, the normal form of this verb is ὀμνύειν / ὀμόσαι, using the -ω form of the verb, but Mark uses ὀμνύναι, using the older -μι form of the verb in this verse:
Mark 14:71 wrote:ὁ δὲ ἤρξατο ἀναθεματίζειν καὶ ὀμνύναι ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον ὃν λέγετε.
Matthew 26:74 wrote:τότε ἤρξατο καταθεματίζειν καὶ ὀμνύειν ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα τὸν ἄνθρωπον
This surprised me. I assume Mark uses less literary, more colloquial Greek, but this is an older classical form. Any thoughts on this?
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
cwconrad
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Re: Mark 14:71 ὀμνύναι / Matthew 26:74 ὀμνύειν

Post by cwconrad »

Jonathan Robie wrote:In the Greek New Testament, the normal form of this verb is ὀμνύειν / ὀμόσαι, using the -ω form of the verb, but Mark uses ὀμνύναι, using the older -μι form of the verb in this verse:
Mark 14:71 wrote:ὁ δὲ ἤρξατο ἀναθεματίζειν καὶ ὀμνύναι ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα τὸν ἄνθρωπον τοῦτον ὃν λέγετε.
Matthew 26:74 wrote:τότε ἤρξατο καταθεματίζειν καὶ ὀμνύειν ὅτι οὐκ οἶδα τὸν ἄνθρωπον
This surprised me. I assume Mark uses less literary, more colloquial Greek, but this is an older classical form. Any thoughts on this?
It's true that the μι-verb forms are older, but I doubt that we can lay down a generalization that Mark's ὀμνύναι is "less literary" than what is evidently at this time the more common ω-verb form, ὀμνύειν. I think rather we must simply acknowledge that the language is in flux with regard to the changeover from μι-verb forms to ω-verb forms as it is with regard to the changeover from 2nd aorist thematic active endings to the alpha endings of the 1st aorist that will eventually become standard for all active past tenses.
BDF §92 wrote: Verbs in -νύναι. The gradual decline of -μι verbs, to be observed throughout the history of the Greek language, reaches its final stage in modern Greek where the entire category disappears. This decline is strongly felt in Koine as compared with classical Greek. Verbs in -νύειν are active competitors of those in -νύναι (besides ὀλλύναι) already in Attic etc.; the older athematic formation has not yet died out in the NT and entirely dominates the passive (as in Attic; therefore generally ἀπόλλυται, -ύμεθα etc.). Mayser I2 2, 121; Gromska 38ff.; Thack. 244–58 with full paradigms.

Active: δείκνυμι 1 C 12:31 (never -ύω in the 1st sg.); δεικνύεις Jn 2:18 (never -υς); δείκνυσιν Mt 4:8 (-ύει S), Jn 5:20 (-νύει D, yet D has -νυσιν for δείξει), ἀμφιέννυσιν (§101), ἀπολλύει Jn 12:25 (v.l. ἀπολέσει), ὀμνύει Mt 23:20, 21, 22 (from this verb there are no certain forms in -μι); ὀμνύουσιν H 6:16. Imperf. only thematic: ἐζώννυες Jn 21:18; (ὑπ-)ἐστρώννυον Mt 21:8 (ἔστρωσαν S*D), Mk 11:8 (the first occurrence D, the second ADN al.), Lk 19:36. Impera.: ἀπόλλυε R 14:15; ὀμνύετε Ja 5:12, σβέννυτε 1 Th 5:19. Inf.: ὀμνύειν Mt 26:74, Mk 14:71 (-ύναι BEHL al.), δεικνύειν Mt 16:21 (-ύναι B). Ptcp.: ἀπολλύων Rev 9:11, δεικνύοντος 22:8 (-ύντος S), ὑποζωννύντες A 27:17, ἀποδεικνύντα 2 Th 2:4 (-ύοντα AFG).—Some verbs in -νύναι are replaced by other thematic formations or by synonyms built on other stems: thus κορεννύναι by χορτάζειν, ἀνοιγνύναι by ἀνοίγειν, ῥηγνύναι (§101) by ῥήσσειν, σκεδαννύναι by σκορπίζειν. Πεταννύναι is not found in the NT, nor is the present tense of ζευγνύναι, κεραννύναι, κορεννύναι, κρεμαννύναι, μειγνύναι, πηγνύναι and ῥωννύναι.—-νύουσι -νυον -νυοντ- are perhaps more primitive than -νύασι -νυσαν -νυντ- (Schwyzer I 698f.).
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Jonathan Robie
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Re: Mark 14:71 ὀμνύναι / Matthew 26:74 ὀμνύειν

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Thanks, Carl, this helps me with both this question and my broader attempt to understand how to use the infinitival forms to construct the principle parts for contract verbs - BDF / BDR discusses all of these things in terms of infinitival forms in a way that steers me directly to what I'm looking for. This will save me lots of time.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
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