[B-Greek] 1Co 7:25 unmarried persons or virgins

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Oct 6 07:48:22 EDT 2006


On Oct 6, 2006, at 8:46 AM, Iver Larsen wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
> To: "Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl at gmail.com>; "B Greek" <b- 
> greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 5:47 AM
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1Co 7:25 unmarried persons or virgins
>
>
>> There actually is a difference, however, the difference is not in  
>> the word itself but in the article or adjective
>> which modifies it.  It is hH PARQENOS for a female and hO PARQENOS  
>> for a male.  The only passage in the NT which uses
>> the masculine form (Re 14.4) does not have an article or an  
>> adjective to reveal this.
>
> Actually, PARQENOI in Rev 14:4 is not the "masculine form" nor is  
> PARQENWN in 1 Cor 7:25 grammatically feminine. The
> word is neutral in terms of gender.  In the absence of a gender  
> specific article, participle or adjective, only the
> context can tell whether a masculine, feminine or neutral reference  
> is intended.

I'd just add something that's been mentioned in the past in list- 
discussion but is not something as widely-known as it ought to be:  
the -OS declensional endings of the "second declension" have no  
distinctive association with masculine gender at all. There are  
numerous botanical names belonging to the second declension that are  
feminine, and there are numerous "two-termination" adjectives that  
have one -OS form for masculine and feminine and one -ON form for the  
neuter. And then there are words like ANQRWPOS and PARQENOS that are  
not gender-specific at all.

>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----
>> From: Oun Kwon <kwonbbl at gmail.com>
>> To: B Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Sent: Friday, October 6, 2006 12:34:20 AM
>> Subject: [B-Greek] 1Co 7:25 unmarried persons or virgins
>>
>>
>> 1 Co 7:25 PERI DE TWN PARQENWN
>>
>> This PARQENWN is grammatically feminine. In the context it would be
>> either unmarried girls or unmarried persons (men or women).  In Rev
>> 14:4 the same word  (pl. fem.) is used, but in the context obviously
>> it is meant 'unmarried male persons'.
>>
>> Does the word mean both women as well as men, unmarried ?  Is there a
>> corresponding different word for 'unmarried men' in Gk?
>>
>> Oun Kwon.
>
> ---
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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