[B-Greek] wife woman etc
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Fri Jun 24 04:12:51 EDT 2005
On Fri, 24 Jun 2005 00:27:52 -0600 "Beth Piepenburg" <bpiepen at svwy.net>
writes:
> ????´ gune¯ goo-nay, can be used for either woman or wife, but
> usually as a married woman. Most females were married at a young
> age in the ancient world. So, my question is:
> If a female was not married, let's say past the age of 20, would she
> be considered a GUNE or a parthenos?
>
> How about an unmarried man? Could he be referred to as an ANHR.
>
> Beth Piepenburg
_____________
GUNH was the general term for woman and could reference a female of any
age. PARQENOS did not necessarily indicate that a woman was a "virgin"
in classical Greek. See Homer, _Iliad_ 2.511-516 (referenced in LSJ,
s.v. PARQENOS) though in the NT this appears to be the emphasis for
PARQENOS.
hOI D' ASPLHDONA NAION ID' ORXOMENON MINUEION,
TWN HRX' ASKALAFOS KAI IALMENOS hUIES ARHOS
hOUS TEKEN ASTUOXH DOMWi AKTOROS AZEIDAO,
PARQENOS AIDOIH hUPERWION EISANABASA
ARHI KRATERW; hO DE hOI PARELECATO LAQRHi;
TOIS DE TRIHKONTA GLAFURAI NEES ESTIXOWNTO.
While ANHR refers most frequently to a man, it can on occasion be used to
reference a female in the sense MAN = HUMAN. We see such a use in James
1.8
ANHR DIYUXOS, AKATASTATOS EN PASAIS TAIS hODOIS AUTOU.
which is a gnomic statement.
A man could be referenced as PARQENOS as we see in Rev 14.4
hOUTOI EISIN hOI META GUNAIKWN OUK EMOLUNQHSAN, PARQENOI GAR EISIN
george
gfsomsel
___________
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