[B-Greek] Lc 6:38
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Thu Oct 27 20:10:02 EDT 2005
On Oct 27, 2005, at 6:08 PM, Daveat168 at aol.com wrote:
> The first part of the verse, as incorporated in the Codex Fuldensis
> Gospel reads:
> 'Date, et dabitur vobis: mensuram bonam, confertam et coagitatam et
> superfluentem dabunt in sinum vestrum.'
> Douay-Rheims translates the equivalent Vulgate verse thus:
> 'Give: and it shall be given to you: good measure and pressed down
> and shaken together and running over shall they give into your bosom.'
> However, 'in sinum' is ambiguous, 'sinum' being accusative of
> either 'sin|us; |us' or 'sin|us; |i'.
> The former is defined by Collins:
> m curve, fold; (fishing) net (GEOG)bay, gulf, valley; (hair) curl;
> (ship) sail; (toga) fold, pocket, purse; (person) bosom; (fig)
> protection, love, heart, hiding place.....
> The latter is defined:
> m large cup.
> Clearly Douay Rheims read as the former, but the context clearly
> implies the latter, giving a picture of judiciously filling a
> measuring jar or basket, not as you would havfe the up-turned fold
> of your toga filled!
> Does the Greek enlighten this point?
It would appear that you have no idea what the Greek text of this
verse is -- you're asking about an explanation of a Latin version.
In point of fact, IN SINUM in this text does indeed mean "into the
hollow" from the noun SINUS, -US, m., 'hollow' -- the exact
equivalent of the Greek KOLPOS. It doesn't have any relationship to
the noun SINUM, -I, n., 'cup.'
You really ought to look at the definition of SINUS in the unabridged
L&S at the Perseus site: http://tinyurl.com/ck6qh -- the fact is that
from the fundamental notion of "a hollow" a considerable range of
senses such as 'bosom,' 'lap', 'purse', etc., etc., etc. derive.
Here's what L&S offer for SINUS, -US, m.:
I. In gen., a bent surface (raised or depressed), a curve,
fold, a hollow, etc. (so mostly poet. and in postAug. prose): --Of
the bag of a fishing-net; and of a hunter's net; also of a spider's
web .--Of the bend or belly of a sail swollen by the wind; and so
with or without velum, l.--Of hair, a curl, ringlet.-- Of the curve
of a reaping-hookq. --Of bones--
II. In partic.
A. The hanging fold of the upper part of the toga, about
the breast, the bosom of a garment; also the bosom of a person;
sometimes also the lap (= gremium, the predom. class. signif.; esp.
freq. in a trop. sense).
1. Lit.:
b. Transf.
(a). The purse, money, which was
carried in the bosom of the toga (cf. supra, the passage,s, the
pocketer, i. e. the receiver,
(b). Poet., a garment
(g). The bosom of a person
2. Trop.
a. The bosom, as in most other languages,
for love, protection, asylum, etc.
b. The interior, the inmost part of a thing
c. In sinu alicujus, in the power or
possession of
d. A hiding-place, place of concealment
e. Sinus Abrahae, the place of the spirits
of the just (eccl. Lat.)
B. A bay, bight, gulf
2. Transf.
(a). The land lying on a gulf, a point
of land that helps to form it
(b). A curve or fold in land, a basin,
hollow, valley
The Greek text: DIDOTE, KAI DOQHSETAI hUMIN: METRON KALON PEPIESMENON
SESALEUMENON hUPEKCUNNOMENON DWSOUSIN EIS TON KOLPON hUMWN.
Underlying this verse is the way things like grain, liquids, etc.
were measured out in the market-places of ancient cities in standard-
measuring holders and then poured into the buyers' bags, bowls, or
whatever.
AT Robertson has a nice and brief note on this: "Into your bosom (EIS
TON KOLPON hUMWN). The fold of the wide upper garment bound by the
girdle made a pocket in common use (Ex 4:6, Pr 6:27, Ps 79:12, Isa
65:6f, Jer 32:18, ). So Isa 65:7."
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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