[B-Greek] hEXEI in Matt.1:23

Cirk Bejnar eluchil404 at yahoo.com
Wed Dec 1 14:09:18 EST 2004


--- Eric Biggs <ericb at gracechurchreno.org> wrote:

> Hello, 
> I'm in my second year of Greek and I have run across
> this rough breathing mark in the future of ECW
> 
> Matt. 1:23 has hEXEI, which turns the usual smooth
> breathing into a rough...why is this? or what is the
> rule governing this change?
> 
> Thanks,
> Eric 
> Reno, NV

Eric, 
Well, a quick check of LSJ
(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2345998)
confirms my recolection that the normal future form is
hEXW.  So the simplest rule is just "learn all the
principle parts of every verb" as all good Greek
teachers say.  :-)

That said, this is a rather interesting case.  A look
at the full conjugation suggests and the cognate forms
mentioned in LSJ above indicate prehistorically the
word began with an 's' which regularly yeilds a rough
breathing in Greek (cf hEX vs six).  The soft
breithing in the present tense is, I think, due to
dissimilation of aspirates.

Yours in His Grace,
Cirk R. Bejnar




		
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