[B-Greek] Greek for "brother-in-law"?

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Thu Jun 30 15:42:09 EDT 2005


Dear B-Greek,

Did ancient Greek have a special word for brother-in-law and 
sister-in-law? There is a special word for father-in-law (PENQEROS), 
mother-in-law (PENQERA), and daughter-in-law (NUMFH). I am looking at 
the question of whether there are four individuals named in John 
19:25:

hEITHKEISAN DE PARA TWi STAURWi TOU IHSOU hH MHTHR AUTOU KAI hH 
ADELFH THS MHTROS AUTOU, MARIA hH TOU KLWPA KAI MARIA hH MAGDALHNH

The two "KAI"s seem to suggest three people in all, but some argue 
that there would not be two Marys who were sisters. Of course, such 
double naming could occur, since it did in the Herodian family 
(Michael Jackson has two sons named Michael), but it does seem 
unlikely. So the question arose in my mind, does ADELFH only refer to 
a blood sister, or can it refer to a sister-in-law or a step-sister?

					Yours,
					Harold Holmyard





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