TA hAGIA
David Thiele
thielogian at yahoo.com
Sat Jun 8 23:21:28 EDT 2002
Maurice,
Your point is well taken, but I suspect I have not
made my question clear enough.
If we look at the substantive hO hAGIOS, I might be
able to be clearer. Now, hAGIOS means "holy" and when
used substantively it can be translated "saint". I
would understand that substantive use to be a
shorthand way of saying hO hAGIOS [ANQRWPOS]. "Holy
man" = "saint". The origin of this substantive
meaning is thereby demonstrated.
When we come to the plural neuter substantive form,
I've assumed some sort of similar underlying process.
Thus TA hAGIA = TA hAGIA [Neuter Pl. Noun X] =
"sanctuary/holy place". Noun X cannot be TOPOS
because TOPOS is masculine, not neuter. My question
is in its basic form "What is noun X, in this
setting?"
Or is the origins of this substantive simply lost in
the mists of the past?
Or is the neuter used because of an attraction to a
Hebrew construction for the sanctuary (in the sort of
way SABBATA often means Sabbath, not Sabbaths)?
Or is the way I am conceptualizing the process
fundamentally misguided? Language is not my greatest
strength, so this possibility is ever so likely!
Regards
David
David Thiele
Pacific Adventist University
Papua New Guinea
--- "Maurice A. O'Sullivan" <mauros at iol.ie> wrote: >
At 21:22 08/06/02, David Thiele wrote:
>
> >Why is TA hAGIA in the neuter. I know we
> >cannot simply work backwards from the English
>
> But that is precisely what you are doing by "reading
> in" <TOPOS>.
>
> If you check BAGD under hAGIOS 2b you will find "
> hAGIA, TO " = sanctuary.
>
> There are other examples in secular Greek of the
> singular use and the
> plural having a different meaning:
> XRHMA ( or CRHEMA depending on your
> transliteration scheme ) = thing
> XRHMATA = money
>
> I notice though that while Mk. 10:23 [ par. Lk.
> 18:24 ] uses XRHMATA, and
> Ac.8:18,20; 24:26 also uses the plural to denote
> "riches"/"money", when
> Barnabas sells his field what he lays at the feet of
> the apostles in Ac.
> 4:37 is TO XRHMA
>
> Maurice A. O'Sullivan [ Bray, Ireland ]
> mauros at iol.ie
>
>
>
>
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