[B-Greek] kosmos in 1 Pt. 3:3
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Wed Aug 30 07:14:44 EDT 2006
Text in question (it normally helps to have the text in view):
hWN ESTW OUC hO EXWQEN EMPLOKHS TRICWN KAI PERIQESEWS CRUSIWN
H ENDUSEWS hIMATIWN KOSMOS
The initial sense of KOSMOS is something like "aesthetically-pleasing arrangement." In Homer's Iliad a standard sense is arrangement of troops on the battlefield, and the agent noun KOSMHTWR is used of a "military marshal." "Adornment" is a standard sense and I believe that the word KOSMOS was originally given a "cosmological" sense with reference to the orderly arrangement of celestial luminaries in the night sky. In 1 Peter 3:3 the context makes it unmistakably clear that "adornment" is the only sense that suits the context. George's comment is certainly on target, but I think the bit about homonyms is misleading: this is NOT a matter of two Greek words spelled the same but having different meanings; rather BOTH senses of the one word KOSMOS belong essentially to the word.
On Wednesday, August 30, 2006, at 05:44AM, George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:
>Almost every language has homonyms, words that sound alike and even look alike but mean something different. How do you know that "bear" is an animal and not a verb "to carry" in a sentence such as "There was a bear in the middle of the road"? For one thing, the sentence would not have a verb in that context. For another thing, you may have been talking about driving through Yellowstone National Park or some other context in which you would encounter wild animals. The answer is thus CONTEXT. I don't think that in the Roman Empire of NT times they had a "Garment World" chain. Here, however, the two senses of KOSMOS are not so radically different. In the LXX of Gen 1.1-2.4a (the first creation story) the earth (GH) is described as AORATOS and AKATASKEUASTOS in the beginning. It is only after the creative acts of God that it is then said KAI SUNETELESEN hO OURANOS KAI hH GH KAI PAS hO KOSMOS AUTWN. Thus it is arrangement or ordering which is the difference. Without
> arrangement, it is simply "earth." It becomes a "world" through arrangement (without thereby ceasing to be "earth").
>
> _____________
>
>David Koot <archierieus at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Most English versions of 1 Pt. 3:3 translate kosmos as 'adornment' or 'adorning.' On what basis do they do so? I have read Kittel's article on the word, and done some additional research. I believe that for almost every other occurrence of kosmos in the NT, it means 'world.' How can they get 'adornment' out of it in 1 Peter?
>
>David Koot
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>gfsomsel
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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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