[B-Greek] blow or breath
Iver Larsen
iver_larsen at sil.org
Sat Dec 27 01:34:45 EST 2003
Mitch Larramore:
> I was watching a TV special during which a lady said
> that PNEUMA comes from PNEW to blow or breath, and
> that YUCH also comes from to blow or breath. Greek
> dictionaries tend to give PNEUMA the idea of blow,
> wind, breath, and of course used of the Holy "Spirit".
> Likewise, YUCH has the idea of blow, breath, life,
> soul, and spirit. My question deals with the overlap
> of "spirit." In what ways do PNEUMA and YUCH differ
> when they refer to "spirit."
I think it depends on whether you are looking at Classical Greek or Koine
Greek as used in the NT. And it depends on whether you are looking in
dictionaries of Classical Greek or those of Koine Greek like BDAG and L&N.
Within the NT, YUCH is never used for "spirit", but means "life, soul, inner
life/being" and by extension any person who has life. Louw and Nida lists
the following senses: "inner self, life, person."
For PNEUMA L&N lists the following senses, in the order of their frequency I
believe: "Holy Spirit, spirit, evil spirit, ghost, inner being, way of
thinking, wind, breath." Of these glosses, the first three are common and
straightforward. The fourth is not common, but straightforward. The fifth is
questionable, since it might better be handled under "spirit". The last
three are rare and somewhat special cases.
The normal word for "wind" in the GNT is ANEMOS. I find the word PNOH
(breath) interesting from a translation point of view, since it is often
translated by "wind" in Acts 2:2 while I think a more accurate translation
is "breath" (of God, of course).
Iver Larsen
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list