Men Only

Alex / Ali alexali at surf.net.au
Wed Jan 5 09:18:46 EST 2000


A quick note and query.  In my daily reading today I had been reminded that
ANTHRWPOS sometimes must be understood to refer to a male:  hENEKA TOUTOU
KATALEIYEI ANQRWPOS TON PATERA KAI THN MHTERA KAI KOLLHQHSETAI THi GUNAIKI
KTL (Matthew 19:5), and shortly afterwards read the comment of Edward Hobbs,
"I personally deeply regret the shift (in my lifetime) of 'man', 'men', and
'brethren' to mean ONLY males;  but it, alas, has happened.  It had not
happened to the Greek language at the time of the New Testament writings."
Edward's observation, which was not made with ANTHRWPOS primarily (or at
all) in view, holds true even for this word, despite the occasional use that
requires the sense of "male" in contradistinction to "man" (another example
is 1 Cor 7:1).  But can any tell me where ANTHRWPOS now stands in Modern
Greek?

Alex Hopkins (Melbourne, Australia)




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