Matt 11:25 etc...

Steven Craig Miller scmiller at www.plantnet.com
Thu Oct 28 07:54:26 EDT 1999


To: Brian Swedburg, Carlton Winbery, Ben Crick, et al.,

FWIW ... I took BAGD's suggestions that APOKRINOMAI might mean "continue" 
or "begin, speak up" to be a "fly by the seat of your paints" "educated 
guess" of what APOKRINOMAI might mean in those situations where it doesn't 
appear to mean much of anything else. But I will note that EDNT picks up on 
this and states that APOKRINOMAI can mean "answer, reply, begin speaking, 
continue speaking." And adds that APOKRINOMAI is used "as a signal, 
characteristic of narrative style, for the beginning or continuation of 
speech" (EDNT 1:133). And Louw & Nida's "Greek-English Lexicon of the NT 
Based on Semantic Domains" states that APOKRINOMAI is used "to introduce or 
continue a somewhat formal discourse (occurring regularly with LEGW ...)" 
and they give a "literal translation" of Mt 11:25 as: "at that time Jesus 
spoke and said."

Also, for discussions on the supposed semitism of the phrase APOKRIQEIS 
EIPEN see: Moulton-Howard 2:453-454; BDF sec. 420.1; and Porter's "Verbal 
Aspect..." 1989:137-138.

-Steven Craig Miller
Alton, Illinois (USA)
scmiller at www.plantnet.com

"O villain! thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this" 
(Shakespare, "Much Ado About Nothing", 4.2.60-61).





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