[B-Greek] GENNAW

George F Somsel gfsomsel at juno.com
Fri May 27 10:37:17 EDT 2005


On Fri, 27 May 2005 07:09:05 -0700 william zeitler
<william at faithfulbible.com> writes:
> > They are simply the same word- one now obsolete in English and the 
> other
> > not.
> 
> Hmm... are they REALLY "the same word"?
> 
> 'Beget': to father or sire.
> 'Birth': a. The emergence and separation of offspring from the body 
> of the
> mother.
> (http://www.thefreedictionary.com)
> 
> So are you suggesting that it is semantically equivalent to 
> translate Matt 1
> as:
> 
> "Abraham gave birth to Isaac,
>  and Isaac gave birth to Jacob...
> 
> We DO make a distinction in English (not present in the Greek) 
> between the
> male and female activities. Obviously context in Matt 1 requires the 
> 'male'
> mode.
> 
> So why choose the 'female' mode for translating John 3 instead of 
> the 'male'?
> Is it arbitrary, or is their some exegetical basis for preferring
> 'born' (female) over 'begotten' (male)? (Or 'to sire' or 'to father' 
> if you
> prefer.)
> 
> william zeitler
_____________________

Perhaps it has something to do with Nicodemus' question in v. 4?  

LEGEI PROS AUTON [hO] NIKODHMOS, PWS DUNATAI ANQRWPOS GENNHQHNAI GERWN
WN?  
*** MH DUNATAI EIS KOILIAN THS MHTROS AUTOU DEUTERON EISELQEIN KAI
GENNHQHNAI? ***

george
gfsomsel
___________


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