[B-Greek] captivity

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Feb 10 08:50:14 EST 2003


At 3:02 PM +0900 2/10/03, Rion Reece wrote:
>In Ephesians, Paul uses the word AICMALWSIAN, captivity.  Although I know
>that it is not used in this form in the New Testament, I was wondering if
>this word or one of its cognates could be AICMALWSIN (that is, ending with
>only the sigma iota nu).  I am curious about this word.  I hope that the
>question is appropriate for the list.

The question is perfectly appropriate inasmuch as it concerns Koine
diction; in response, I must say that I can find no evidence for a noun
AICMALWSIS; if there were such a noun, it ought to derive from a verb
AICMALOW with a sense of "take captive." The noun AICMALWSIA is glossed
thus by LSJ:

LSJ: AICMALWSIA ,hH ,captivity ,D.S.20.61 ,LXX Am. 1.15 , al., Plu. Them. 31 .
II. body of captives ,D.S.17.70 ,LXX Nu. 31.12 ,al.

It is clearly derivative from the adjective AICMALWTOS/ON commonly used as
a substantive and with a feminine noun form AICMALWTIS, these derived from
AICMH, spear-point AND *hALW a root used in aorist forms of hAIREW,
"catch"/"overtake."

Other cognate words include:  AICMALWTEUW, AICMALWTIKOS, AICMALWTISMOS,
AICMALWTISTHS, AICMALWTIZW.
-- 

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


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