[B-Greek] Mark 5:9 Singular explained as Plural?

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Thu Dec 22 20:41:19 EST 2005


 
On Thursday, December 22, 2005, at 08:30PM, Mitch Larramore <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
>KAI EPHRWTA AUTON, TI ONOMA SOI; KAI LEGEI AUTWi
>LEGIWN ONOMA MOI, hOTI POLLOI ESMEN.
>
>Is not LEGEI singular? And isn't MOI singular? The
>MOI...POLLOI at first looked right, but then it seems
>off when I parse them. MOI...ESMEN seems inconsistent
>likewise. "Legion is/was the name [given] to me,
>because we..."?

LEGIWN is a Latin noun for a military legion; the demoniac is saying, "We are a host of the army of Satan," in effect. He is the victim of multiple demoniac possession. Such a person can speak of himself in the singular and yet speak in the plural when the multiple personalities speak through his mouth.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list