[B-Greek] Lucian's word for revered

frjsilver at optonline.net frjsilver at optonline.net
Sat Dec 1 17:13:11 EST 2007


I keep thinking that I'd like to see a good, strong paper written on the 'shame culture' of classical Greece with resonances in Greek biblical vocabulary in the semantic fields of AIDOS, DOXA, and TIMH. 
 
DOXA as 'reputation', e.g., is neutral up to a certain point, and even in the scriptures it might not always mean 'glory' as it does in later Greek usage.
 
Hmmmm.  I'm talking myself into writing the paper, amn't I.......
 
Father James

----- Original Message -----
From: Carl Conrad 
Date: Saturday, December 1, 2007 6:39 am
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Lucian's word for revered
To: Anita Clerke 
Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org

> 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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