[B-Greek] Question concerning NT original Greek word
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Jan 26 07:15:17 EST 2007
On Jan 26, 2007, at 12:53 AM, Clarissa Jones wrote:
> I am trying to figure out what the original greek means where it says
> in the bible for a woman to have long hair? Does it mean uncut? or
> just long? Is it a separation of men and women, or submission by not
> even cutting a little? I want the ancient greek word for Long, and
> the original definition. I would really appreciate any help.
>
> Thank you!
> Mrs Claire Jones
This is a Biblical Greek forum wherein participants are assumed to be
at least beginning the study of Biblical Greek. We generally look for
questions to be accompanied by precise citations of the Biblical
Greek text about which the question is being asked. In this instance
I would guess you are probably referring to 1Cor. 11:14-15, which reads:
(14) OUDE hH FUSIS AUTH DIDASKEI hUMAS hOTI ANHR MEN EAN KOMAi ATIMIA
AUTWi ESTIN, (15) GUNH DE EAN KOMAi DOXA AUTHi ESTIN? hOTI hH KOMH
ANTI PERIBOLAIOU DEDOTAI [AUTHI].
The word about which you're asking here is a verb KOMAW, here used in
the third-person singular present indicative active KOMAi -- of a man
in verse 14, of a woman in verse 15.
I'll cite for you the full definition in the generally acknowledged
BDAG lexicon of NT Greek:
--KOMAW (s. KOMH, cp. Lat. comans; Hom. et al.; BGU 16, 11; Philo,
Deus Imm. 88, Spec. Leg. 3, 37; Jos., Ant. 4, 72) wear long hair, let
one’s hair grow long (Diod. S. 20, 63, 3) 1 Cor 11:14, 15 (Paul
argues from nature, but has Roman custom on his side; ancient authors
are not unanimous about Greek custom: s. Il. 2, 11 al. ‘long-haired
Achaeans’; Hdt. 1, 82, 7 in ref. to a vow; Aristot. Rhet. 1367a, 26
long hair a sign of nobility in Lacedemonia; Plut., Mor. 267b Greeks
do not ordinarily wear their hair long; Ps.-Phoc. 212 ARSEION OUK
EPEOIKE KOMAN; JMurphy-OConnor, CBQ 42, ’80, 484–87: to some an
indication of effeminacy, cp. Juvenal 2, 96. For an Israelite
perspective s. Judg 16:19; cp. Philo, Spec. Leg. 3, 37; Billerb. III
441f; CGordon, Homer and Bible: HUCA 26, ’55, 84f. Other reff.
PvanderHorst, The Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides ’78, 249f. Perh.
Paul refers to the effeminate manner in which some males coiffured
their long hair, rather than to the mere wearing of hair in full
length.)—MAndronicos et al., The Gk. Museum ’75 (illustr.); RAC IV
629f. DELG s.v. κόμη. M-M.--
Another generally acknowledge NT Greek resource lexicon (Louw & Nida)
has the following entry:
--49.25 KOMAW: to wear long hair as part of one’s attire — ‘to
have long hair, to appear with long hair, to wear long hair.’ GUNH
DE EAN KOMAi DOXA AUTHi ESTIN ‘if a women wears long hair, it is a
pride for her’ 1Cor 11:15. In a number of languages it may be
necessary to translate κομάω as ‘to let one’s hair grow
long’ or ‘not to cut one’s hair.’--
While the above information may satisfy your curiosity as to exactly
what the Greek text is saying and how it says it, it may not help you
much with interpretation of Paul's meaning and the precise nature and
rationale for the advice he is giving the Corinthian congregation.
You should realize also that discussion in this forum focuses on
exactly what the Greek text can be understood to be saying, not upon
background and extended implications of what the text may mean. The
BDAG definition above does offer some suggestions about
possibilities, but I would guess that there will not be any complete
consensus about impications of these two verses, despite the fact
that there can be no doubt as to what the Greek sentences mean.
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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