[B-Greek] SIGATW in 1 Cor 14:30

Kimmo Huovila kimmo.huovila at helsinki.fi
Wed Sep 28 08:23:48 EDT 2005


On Tuesday 27 September 2005 20:20, Elizabeth Kline wrote:

> I understand your point but what if the command "to be silent" is  
> semantically a call to enter a state of silence and remain in that  
> state?

Very possible. That fits the normal meaning of the present, and seems to be 
used with this particular lexeme in that sense.

> In this is the case then the present is preferable to the  
> aorist.

The aorist would focus only on the change of state. I see the point about the 
present being semantically more informative. The question is what is 
pragmatically unmarked and in what contexts the marking applies.

Reading some commentaries, I get the impression that the Pauline command is a 
permission to interrupt the speaker if one gets a fresh revelation. My 
thought was that is not decisive, and the aorist fits better the interruption 
view, but if the point is that you are not to interrupt but to be silent and 
let the other speak, then the present fits better.

I understand it need not be a strict either-or question. It is possible to 
take it in the sense that you are to shut up and remain silent. But 
fundamentally, is Paul then encouraging interruption (let the first speaker 
accept that he is interrupted and shut up) or discouraging it (don't 
interrupt others [the second speaker] when they are speaking)? Logically, of 
course, he could do both simultaneously, since they are not mutually 
contradictory, as the speaking is by different people (the first must accept 
that he is interrupted and must not interrupt the second one).

> I found about 25 citations for SIGHSON. I am sending them to you off  
> list in a .pdf file.

Thanks a lot. Looks like the aorist is in normal use.

On Tuesday 27 September 2005 16:18, bitan buth wrote:
> Can you use SIGA as something almost generic, unmarked? 
> MALISTA.

Yes, Tobit 10:7 seems to confirm this.

Can we determine anything about Paul's attitude towards interrupting the 
speaker at church? Looks like the present aspect does not give much light to 
solve it either way, unless my suggestion can be ruled out by some other 
means. The aorist would have made it unambiguous that he allows it. Am I on 
the right track?

Thank you for your help.

Kimmo Huovila




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