[B-Greek] Lucian's word for revered
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sat Dec 1 06:39:17 EST 2007
I failed to respond to the third question in my earlier message:
The verb αἰδέομαι (AIDEOMAI) does not appear in the Greek NT,
but its cognate word αἰδώς (AIDWS) appears once only in the GNT
in 1 Tim 2:9, where it means something like "modesty." The note in
BDAG -- the major lexicon of NT Greek -- on the basic sense of this
noun strikes me as nicely put: "This term expresses the opposite of
considering or treating something in a common or ordinary manner; a
respect for convention."
On Dec 1, 2007, at 6:30 AM, Carl Conrad wrote:
>
> 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)
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