[B-Greek] Lucian's word for revered

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Dec 1 06:30:20 EST 2007


On Dec 1, 2007, at 2:57 AM, Anita Clerke wrote:

> I would greatly appreciate help for the following 3 questions:
> 1) Lucian of Samosata's work "The Passing of Peregrinus" has the
> following statement on pages 12-13 (paragraph 11), as found in The
> Loeb Classical Library, Lucian with an English Translation by AM
> Harmon Volume V, 1972:
>
> "He [Peregrinus] interpreted and explained some of their books and
> even composed many, and they [Christians] revered him as a god, made
> use of him as a lawgiver."
>
> και αυνεγραφεν και ως θεον αυτον
> εκεινοι ηδουντο και νομοθετη εχροντο
>
> KAI AUNEGPAFEN  KAI  hOS QEON AUTOΝ EKEINOI HiDOUNTO KAI NOMOQETΗι
> ECRONTO
>
> I know that he [Lucian] was writing in Attic Greek, but could someone
> explain which of these words is being translated as revered. It would
> seem to me to be ηδουντο HiDOUNTO. Hence the sentence would
> read something like this word for word:
>
> And composed [books] and as God him [Peregrinus] they [the
> Christians] revered and as lawgiver ...
>
> 2) As Sir Richard Jebb translated the passage as "regarded him as a
> god", and assuming that HiDOUNTO is the word for "regard", does it
> only strictly mean regard in the sense of "I regard him as a great
> scholar" ie. "I consider him as..".? Hence the word regard does not
> necessarily carry the meaning, in and of itself,  of a high regard or
> lofty reverence fitting only for a god.
>
> 3) Whichever word is used as revered/regarded, is it found in the New
> Testament?

The text I've found has it this way:
καὶ συνέγραφεν, 8 καὶ ὡς θεὸν αὐτὸν  
ἐκεῖνοι ᾐδοῦντο καὶ νομοθέτῃ 9  
ἐχρῶντο
KAI SUNEGRAYEN, KAI hWS QEON AUTON EKEINOI HiDOUNTO KAI NOMOQETHi  
ECRWNTO

The word that's translated as "revered" is ᾐδοῦντο HiDOUNTO;  
it derives from the verb AIDEOMAI, which in earlier Greek can mean  
"have feelings of awe or inferiority before" but tends in later Greek  
to be used in the sense here: "respect," "revere," "have regard for."
I'd understand this to be saying that "they" respected him as they  
would a god and that they availed themselves of his services as a  
lawgiver.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/





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