[B-Greek] Luke 9:36 - sigao

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Dec 30 09:42:43 EST 2003


At 7:44 PM -0600 12/29/03, Derek Greer wrote:
>I have a question concerning the use of SIGAW in Luke 9:36.
>BAG's lists its use here as meaning "hold one's tongue",
>keep something secret", however Thayer's lists this usage
>under "to keep silence, hold one's peace" rather than
>"to be kept in silence".

I think that "hold one's peace" is rather archaic English for "keep quiet"
or "keep still." It needs to be remembered that Thayer's is a Victorian
work and that its English usage is hardly current. In Lk 9:36, ( ... KAI
AUTOI ESIGHSAN KAI OUDENI APHGGEILAN EN EKEINAIS TAIS hHMERAIS OUDEN hWN
hEWRAKAN.), the sense of ESIGHSAN is certainly active, "kept silent." In my
view Luke adds the following clause to indicate that they kept silent AT
THAT TIME--i.e. presumably until after Jesus' resurrection.

>I also have a question concerning the idiom "hold one's peace"
>as Thayer's defines the meaning here.  I've always understood
>this idiom to refer to silence with respect to objections
>as in "speak now or forever hold your peace", however most
>references only list to be silent (in which case this listing seems
>redundant).

Well, as I noted above, I think Thayer's is using the phrase in a more
archaic sense of "remain silent when one might speak" without any
implication of a reason for doing so. On the other hand, even in that
phrase from the traditional wedding ritual the implication is "voice
whatever impediment there may be now or remain silent about it
hereafter"--so that the sense of "hold one's peace" is simply "not divulge
what one knows."
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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