[B-Greek] Other Idioms

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Feb 25 16:40:19 EST 2006


On Feb 25, 2006, at 3:15 PM, Richard Lindeman wrote:

> Acts 1:15-16  KAI EN TAIS HMERAIS TAUTAIS ANASTAS PETROS EN MESW  
> TWN MAQHTWN EIPEN HN TE OXLOS ONOMATWN EPI TO AUTO hWSEI hEKATON  
> EIKOSI ANDRES ADELFOI

A little punctuation would help here; UBS4/NA27 has a raised dot  
after EIPEN and another after EIKOSI. I think we have to understand  
the clause HN TE OCLOS ... hEKATON EIKOSI as a parenthesis " ... —and  
the throng of persons (gathered) at the same place was about a  
hundred and twenty) ..."

> This passage seemed a bit awkward to me for a few reasons.  First  
> of all, EIPEN is quite a distance from the beginning of his actual  
> speech found in ANDRES ADELFOI. Does TE give an adequate warning  
> signal to the reader that a parenthetical thought is being expressed?

Yes, I think so; it certainly indicates that HN introduces an  
additional factor that the narrator wants the reader/listener to be  
aware of; but the clause is certainly awkward.

> Secondly, OXLOS ONOMATWN seems unusual to me. I assume that it is  
> idiomatic and means “Crowd of people”?

Yes; see BDAG under ONOMA 2: "person."

> Thirdly, ANDRES ADELFOI “Men and brothers”.  Two plural vocatives  
> used in apposition seems to be a common form of address used by  
> Paul when he is speaking to a group of listeners. I know that I  
> have seen various other expressions similarly formulated by Paul.   
> Is this unique to Paul or is this a very common way of addressing a  
> crowd formally?

ANDRES is used here as a noun, ADELFOI as adjectival modifier,  
something like "fellow-believing gentlemen." This is another idiom,  
ANHR functioning often, especially in older Greek much as the "man"  
in traditional English compounds like "postman," "chairman,"  
"highwayman," or even "gentleman." In the ecclesia in Athens speakers  
addressed the citizen body as ANDRES AQHNAIOI; in the courtroom  
pleaders addressed the jury as ANDRES DIKASTAI, something like our  
now very archaic "gentlemen of the jury."

Of course your lexicon will tell you that ADELFOS is simply a noun,  
but in fact it is an adjective used substantivally hO ADELFOS, hH  
ADELFH; it is in origin and still in some traditional expressions  
adjectival.


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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