Apostrophe or Breathing Mark?

Richard Allan Stauch RStauch at worldnet.att.net
Mon Jul 23 01:08:19 EDT 2001


-----Original Message-----
From: Carl W. Conrad [mailto:cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu]
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 7:57 PM
>At 7:10 PM -0700 7/22/01, Richard Allan Stauch wrote:
>>  2 Clement XV:1, the A in KAME
>>  Ignatius to the Ephesians XIV:1, the second A in KALOKAGAQIAN
>>
>>Could this be a holdover in a contraction (as opposed to a compound word)?
A
>>misprint? I have not yet seen it in the GNT. Could someone please explain
>>this? Is there a pronunciation rule of which I should be aware?
>Your intuitive guess comes pretty close to the truth; what you're seeing is
>termed a "crasis" mark (KRASIS = "mixing" from verb KERANNUMI,
>"mix/mingle").

Thanks very much. That was exactly what I needed to know.

>>Also, looking for help in BAGD for KALOKAGAQIA (nobility of character,
>>excellence), I find the following reference I cannot understand: "Js 5:10
>>v.1." I thought "Js" was "James", ...
>No, what's found in James 5:10 are two compound nouns, KAKOPAQIA and
>MAKROQUMIA, which are somewhat like KALOKAGAQIA in formation in that they
>are obviously abstract nouns created from compounded adjectives. Where
>KALOKAGAQIA is very different from the others, however, is that the
>original link between KALOS and AGAQOS, the KAI, is still present
>syllabically. It may be [that] one or more late MSS show KALOKAGAQIA in
place
>of KAKOPAQIA, I don't know.

That sounds plausible, but I was hoping that BAGD was a little less cryptic
than that. I'll keep looking, and if nobody else follows up on this
question, I'll let you all know what I find.

Thanks again,

Richard Allan Stauch
Long Beach, CA




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