Smile

Maurice A. O'Sullivan mauros at iol.ie
Tue Sep 10 14:24:00 EDT 2002


At 18:32 10/09/02, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

>Although I note that LSJ offers only "smile (upon)," I can think of no
>reason why it couldn't mean "laugh at."

Indeed, Carl. I think the author of Sirach might well have had this in 
mind, with his only two uses of PROSGELAW, in 13:6 and :11

 >>   13:6 When he needs you he will  deceive  you,  he  will
smile at you and give you hope. He will  speak  to  you
kindly and say, "What do you need?"
7 He will shame you with his  foods,  until  he  has
drained you two or three times;  and  finally  he  will
deride you. Should  he  see  you  afterwards,  he  will
forsake you, and shake his head at you.
8 Take  care not to be led astray, and not to be humiliated in  your
feasting.
9 When a  powerful  man  invites  you,  be
reserved; and he will invite you the more often.
10 Do not push forward, lest you be repulsed; and  do  not
remain at a distance, lest you be forgotten.
11  Do not try to  treat  him  as  an  equal,  nor  trust  his
abundance of words; for he will test you  through  much
talk, and while he smiles he will be examining you.

I think there's enough ambiguity in that use of  PROSGELAW to support your 
case.

And as for the besotted king of I Esdra 4 where we read:

 >> 4:29 Yet I have seen him with Apame, the king's concubine, the daughter 
of the illustrious Bartacus; she would sit at the king's right hand
30 and take the crown from the king's head and put it on her own, and slap 
the king with her left hand.
31 At this the king would gaze at her with mouth agape. If she smiles at 
him, he laughs; if she loses her temper with him, he flatters her, that she 
may be reconciled to him. <<

Given that the Greek of v.31 reads ..... KAI EAN PROSGELASHi AUTWi, YELAi
I think there is every reason for amending the RSV's "she smiles" to "she 
laughs at", don't you?

Regards
Maurice


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






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