hUSTERA and hUSTEREW

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Tue Feb 20 10:42:20 EST 2001


At 13:26 20/02/01, JKandJWilk at aol.com wrote:

>When I began to learn
>biblical greek, I was struck by the similarity of forms of hUSTEREW, meaning
>to lack something (cf. John 2.3 KAI hUSTERHSANTOS OINOU, LEGEI hH MHTHR 
>TOU IHSOU...)  and hUSTERHMA, meaning poverty (used to describe the state 
>of the widow in Luke 21:4, ...hAUTH DE EK TOU hUSTERHMATOS AUTHS PANTA TON 
>BION hON EICEN EBALEN).  Does anyone know if somehow the words for uterus 
>and for poverty/lacking share some distant derivative?  If so, what is the 
>connection between them and how did a uterus become associated with poverty?

I would suggest that this excerpt from the Louw-Nida lexicon is a necessary 
corrective to equating "need" with "poverty".
 >>>>>>>>>
  57.38 hUSTERHMA -- TOS n : (derivative of hUSTEREW —to be lacking,' 
<a  that which is lacking in what is essential or needed - —what is 
lacking, what is needed. —the plenty which you have at this time should 
make up for what they lack' 2 Cor 8.14; ¿ —the fellow believers supplied 
the things I was lacking' 2 Cor 11.9;  —but she from what she lacked gave 
all that she had to live on' Lk 21.4.  In a number of languages the 
expression of —lack' may be indicated as —not to have enough' or —not to 
possess what one needs' or —not to have what one should
have.'
 >>>>>>>>>

And the TDNT makes the point:
 >> 4. The nouns hUSTERHMA  and hUSTERHSIS are very rare in ancient lit. 
apart from the LXX and Chr. writings. <<
but it then goes on to distinguish various meanings for hUSTERHMA --- one 
such being:
 >>>We have here the underlying expression ANAPLHROUN hUSTERHMA  “to fill 
up what is lacking,” which is also found in Chr. lit. <<

but pointing out that:
 >>hUSTERHSIS always means “want,” “need.”<<

P.S
I regards as the most significant term in the Lukan account of this widow 
is that she is described in 21:2 as PENIXROS --- which is a hapax in the 
NT, as against PTWXOS, used 10 times in Lk and Ac.,( as in Lk. 4:18, where 
the good news has been brought to the PTWXOIS )

What is more, PENIXROS appears only 3 times in the LXX --- Ex 22:24 :  Pr 
28:15: 29:7  --
always in the sense of being oppressed, whether by money-lenders as in Ex 
or the " wicked " as in Pr.




Regards,





Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros at iol.ie






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