[B-Greek] Re : Meaning of ANTI

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at ioa.com
Sun Oct 23 17:29:25 EDT 2005


On Oct 23, 2005, at 5:06 PM, clare arnold wrote:

>
> My two questions relate to the word ANTI which, according to George  
> Somsel's
> posting of 9th Oct means:
> instead of; for,as; on behalf of; for the purpose of.
>
> But ANTI in combination with other words means "like" and "equal  
> to" in
> words such as PARAQEOS = "godlike"," equal to god" (applied to Greek
> heroes).
>
> ANTI in ANTIPAIS is used in a derogatory way as "child-like."

I think one should be careful not to confuse the usage of ANTI as a  
preposition with its use in composition to form adjectives and nouns.  
In any case, although Smyth offers as examples of ANTI- in  
composition ANTIQEOS, ANTIPAIS, and ANTIDOULOS, the sense is not  
really so much "like" in the sense of "similar to" as "a match for"  
"as good as a ..." Thus ANTIQEOS would have the sense of "a match for  
a god," ANTIPAIS as "as good as (no better than) a child, ANTIDOULOS  
"as good as (no better than) a slave." But this sense should not be  
compounded with the usage of the preposition with particular cases of  
nouns.

> My first question is, in 1 Cor 11:15 could ANTI PERIBOLAIOU  
> therefore be
> translated as "like a throw-around (or cape)"?  That translation  
> seems to
> make sense in context.

It might make sense so long as one does not confuse the idea as one  
of similarity; I think the idea is rather of "functional equivalence."

> Secondly, is there any grammatical reason why the word ANTICHRISTOS  
> (1st
> John) could not be translated as "Christ-like" or "equal to Christ?"

Here too the matter is not one of similarity but of competitive  
stance: one who assumes the status of, claims to function as the  
anointed one. Certainly "Christ-like" in English has a denotation and  
connotation that are oceans apart from those of ANTICRISTOS. The  
fundamental sense of ANTI- in these compounds is "serving in the  
place of X" I've often thought, although I cannot demonstrate it,  
that the idea underlying this usage of ANTI- is to be seen in the  
balance beam with its pans in one of which is placed an item and in  
the other a weight or group of weights intended to match the weight  
of the item in the first pan.

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/




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