[B-Greek] EXOMOLOGEO/EXOMOLOGEOMAI

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Sep 15 16:55:10 EDT 2006


On Sep 15, 2006, at 3:43 PM, gabe coia wrote:

> Are EXOMOLOGEOMAI and EXOMOLOGEO actually two distinct words with  
> different meanings?  Strong's doesn't list EXOMOLOGEOMAI at all,  
> but rather lists EXOMOLOGEO.  Can anyone explain to me what the  
> deal is here?
>   Also, do these words consistently carry connotations of  
> reverential allegiance in the New Testament?

EXOMOLOGEOMAI is the middle-voice form of EXOMOLOGEW; the middle is  
in fact the more common form (9x in the GNT to only 1x the active).  
The meanings range, according to BDAG, over (1) to indicate  
acceptance of an offer or proposal, promise, consent, (2) to make an  
admission of wrong-doing/sin, confess, admit, (3)  to declare openly  
in acknowledgment, profess, acknowledge, and (4) praise (as a meaning  
conflated from "confess" and "profess."

Lexical lists tend -- for no good reason, in my opinion -- to list  
the active form of a verb, even if the common form of it is middle.  
But at least a good lexicon will indicate the more standard usage.

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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