[B-Greek] EMBRIBAOMAI
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Mar 27 11:49:11 EST 2003
At 4:29 PM +0100 3/27/03, Troels Hansen wrote:
>Aarhus, Denmark, March 27. 2003
>
>
>
>Dear B-Greek'ers!
>
>
>Does anyone of you know what 'EMBRIBAOMAI' means? The standard answer
>is that in Jn 11;33.38 it simply means the feeling that overcomes you
>when a dear friend of yours has just passed away. But that is hardly
>satisfying. My BibleWorks informs me that the verb is used only in
>Dan. 11:30, Matt. 9:30, Mk. 1:43, 14:5, Jn. 11:33.38, none which
>except for the two occurrences in Jn has anything to do with dead
>friends.
>Now, it may be that I'm on my way out of the B-Greek limits ...
Yes you are, and I wish you wouldn't--and I hope nobody is inclined to
respond to what you've said.
>Mar 14:5 - the only NT-example of the verb that doesn't have Jesus as
>subject - suggests indignation that someone has done something not in
>accordance with the Law whereas Mk 1:43 and Mat 9:30 suggest Jesus'
>wish that his trespassing be kept secret.
>Any comment to my no doubt semantically unsound ideas are wellcome!
I've done a bit of research beyond checking what is offered in L&N and
BDAG, trying to get at the sense of the root BRIMH/BRIMA involved.
EMBRIMAOMAI as used in the GNT certainly is confusing on the surface. My
sense is that the root here employed, BRIM-, probably related to BROM-, is
used for a strong, rasping exhalation through the nose: a snort. With the
prefix EN- to make it EM-BRIMAOMAI, my sense is that we have a deep
breathing in followed by a rapid exhalation through the nose. That's
admittedly speculative, but I think it will account for the seemingly
disparate senses required by the GNT texts. I don't find it at all
difficult to imagine that a deep breath taken in and then expelled through
the nose can express physically any kind of strong emotional reaction,
whether of anger and indignation or of distress at an event or happening
that upsets one's emotional equilibrium. The two instances in GJn (11:33,
38) both are adverbially qualified as being internal rather than physical
(TWi PNEUMATI, EN hEAUTWi); the context requires that we understand the
verbs here (EMBRIMHSATO 11:33, EMBRIMHSAMENOS 11:38) of being deeply upset
at the death of Lazarus. All the other instances of the verb in the GNT
involve indignation or a stern expression, what my father-in-law used to
mean when he said of the way a physician warned him of alcohol and severe
diabetes, "he talked ROUGH with me." I think that all the senses of the
word are intelligible in terms of heaving breath expelled through the nose
and the sorts of emotional state consistent with that.
I don't know if this is very helpful, but I hope that some reasonable
etymological guessing may be more helpful than resorting to theological
speculation.
--
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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