PARQENOS (again)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Feb 8 06:20:43 EST 2000
At 8:58 PM -0500 2/7/00, VINCE ENDRIS wrote:
>I may be bringing up a question that has already been answered, but I must
>have missed it. This is concerning the question of PARQENOS at the time of
>Septuagint translation. One answer that was given, I must admit I did not
>understand it all (I am a little greeker), is that it may refer to
>"unmarried women who are not virgins". This seems like it would make more
>sense unless there were legends of a virgin birth at the time of Isaiah
>(question mark).
>As you might be able to tell, I am not quite an expert at greek so please be
>gentle with me :)
>vince
Let me cite the message from two days ago by George Somsel in response to a
similar question:
At 7:12 PM -0500 2/6/00, Polycarp66 at aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 2/6/2000 7:01:35 AM Central Daylight Time,
>prattw at nevada.edu writes:
>
><< I would appreciate any information someone could provide me regarding
> the use of PARQENOS around the time of the Septuagint translation of
> the Hebrew scriptures. Was its use predominantly equivalent to
> English "virgin" or more in the sense of a young woman, probably a
> virgin given customs, but not necessarily so? In the Septuagint,
> although related words (PARQEN___) were almost entirely restricted to
> the transliteration of Hebrew B:TW.LAH, virgin in the strict sense,
> PARQENOS is used about a third of the time to translate (AL:MAH or
> NA(:ARAH, both meaning approximately "young woman" without necessary
> implication of virginity.
> >>
>
>The entry for PARQENOS from the Liddell-Scott-Jones Lexicon is about the best
>I can do. Of course, this isn't specific to the 3rd cent. BC.
>
>
>PARQENOS , Lacon. PARTHENOS Aristoph. Lys. 1263 (lyr.). " , maiden, girl,
>Hom. Il. 22.127, etc. ; hAI AQLIAI P. EMAI my unhappy girls, Soph. OT 1462,
>cf. Aristoph. Kn. 1302 ; also GUNH PARQENOS Hes. Th. 514; p. kñra , of the
>Sphinx, dub. in Eur. Phoen. 1730 (lyr.); QUGATHR P. Xen. Cyrop. 4.6.9 ; of
>Persephone, Eur. Hel. 1342 (lyr.), cf. S.Fr.804; virgin, opp. GUNH ,
>IDEM=Soph. Trach. 148, Theoc.27.65.
>
>2. of unmarried women who are not virgins, Hom. Il. 2.514, Pind. P. 3.34,
>Soph. Trach. 1219, Aristoph. Cl. 530.
>
>3. PARQENOS, hH , the Virgin Goddess, as a title of Athena at Athens, Paus.
>5.11.10, au=Paus. 10.34.8 (hence of an Att. coin bearing her head, E.Fr.675);
>of Artemis, Eur. Hipp. 17 ; of the Tauric Iphigenia, Hdt. 4.103 ; of an
>unnamed goddess, SIG46.3 (Halic., v B.C.), IG12.108.48,au=IG 12.108.54=lr
>(Neapolis in Thrace); aß ßeraÜ p ., of the Vestal Virgins, D.H.1.69,
>Plu.2.89e, etc. ; hAI ESTIADES P. IDEM=Plu.Cic.19; simply, hAI P. D.H.2.66.
>
>4. the constellation ti=D.H. Virgo, Eudox.ap.Hipparch. 1.2.5, Arat.97, etc.
>
>5. = KORH III, pupil, X.ap.Longin.4.4, Aret. SD1.7.
>
>
>II. as Adj., maiden, chaste, PARQENON YUCHN ECWN Eur. Hipp. 1006, cf. Porph.
>Marc.33 ; MITRH P. Epigr.Gr.319 : metaph., P. PHGH Aesch. Pers. 613.
>
>III. as masc., PARQENOS, hO , unmarried man, Apoc.14.4.
>
>IV. P. GH Samian earth (cf. PARQENOS III), PMag.Berol.2.57.
>
>
>gfsomsel
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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