[B-Greek] KHRUKAS, Martyrdom of Polycarp 2.4
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Sun Jan 23 08:53:32 EST 2005
On Sun, 23 Jan 2005 20:10:52 +0700 "james" <no_coldpop at hotpop.com>
writes:
> Dear listers,
>
> I have been a lurker for quite a long time and now I'm at my wits
> end about this particular text.
> The text is The Martyrdom of Polycarp 2.4
> hOMOIWS DE KAI hOI EIS TA QHRIA KATAKRIQENTES hUPEMEINAN DEINAS
> KOLASEIS, KHRUKAS MEN hUPOSTRWNNUMENOI KAI ALLAIS POIKILWN BASANWN
> IDEAIS KOLAFIZOMENOI hINA ...
>
> Can anybody help me with KHRUKAS, because I don't have a clue. I
> don't even know whether it is a verb or a noun. Perseus
> morphological analysis said it was accusative plural of KHRUX, yet I
> still don't get it.
> My Michael Holmes' Apostolic Fathers translates it as: And in a
> similar manner those who were condemned to the wild beasts endured
> terible punishment, the were forced to lie on sharp shells ...
> Is it shells? What's the lexical form? And why the accusative in
> connection with the nominative participle of hUPOSTORNUMI? Any help
> will be welcome.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> James Pantou
> Jakarta, Indonesia
___________________
This is a relatively difficult one -- not so much because of its form as
because of its sense. KHRUKAS would appear to derive from KHRUC, but
this means "herald" in most instances and seems to make little sense
here. LSJ, however, gives a second meaning which is "trumpet-shell." At
first glance this may also seem to make little sense, but apparently what
is envisioned here is that they are stretched out on broken pieces of
marine shells. This might be equivalent to being stretched out on broken
glass.
george
gfsomsel
___________
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