Romans 8:26 b

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Jun 8 05:08:14 EDT 2002


At 9:16 PM -0600 6/7/02, Randall M. Tidmore wrote:
>Romans 8:28b says:
>
>ALLA AUTO TO PNEUMA hUPERENUGXANEI STENAGMOIS ALALHTOIS
>
>Questions:
>Could STENAGMOIS ALALHTOIS be translated as "unspoken groans or sighs"?

Yes, that would be possible, but does the text really refer to what could
be voiced aloud or heard if one had spiritual ears? I suppose a
theoretical(?) question could be asked: "How often do you hear the Holy
Spirit sighing or groaning out loud?" There may be few who hear voices like
Paul heard, "Oh Saul, Saul, why are you doing this to me?!"

>Why is ALALHTOIS usually translated by some rendition of "unspeakable"? Why
>not "unspoken"?

Both are possible senses, but I'm guessing that ALALHTOS may be thought to
be equivalent to an older religious adjective ARRHTOS which often has the
notion of "unspeakable" or "never to be voiced aloud." Here's what Smyth
says (#472):

§472. Verbals in -tos, -tê, -ton either (1) have the meaning of a perfect
passive participle, as kruptos hidden, paideutos educated, or (2) express
possibility, as noêtos thinkable, hora_tos visible. Many have either
signification, but some are passive only, as poiêtos done. See 425 c. N.
a. Usually passive in meaning are verbals from deponent verbs, as mi_mêtos
imitated.
b. Usually active in meaning are compounds derived from transitive active
verbs; but some intransitive verbs make active verbals, as rhutos flowing.
c. Many are active or passive, others only active: memptos blamed,
blamable, blaming, pistos trusting in (rare), trusted, apra_ktos doing
nothing, not done, phthenktos sounding.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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