[B-Greek] The Meaning of PAS

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Fri Jun 22 04:02:35 EDT 2007


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>

> On Jun 21, 2007, at 10:12 AM, George F Somsel wrote:
>
>> As in most, if not all languages, no word has simply one meaning
>> but has numerous meanings which are to be determined by the context
>> in which it is used.  Louw & Nida gives 5 usages of PAS
>>
>> 1. all -- the first usage in Mt 9.35 τὰς πόλεις πάσας
>> (TAS POLEIS PASAS)
>> 2. any -- see Mt 19.3
>> 3. total -- see Tit 2.15
>> 4. whole -- Mt 18.32
>> 5. every kind of -- 2nd and 3rd usage in Mt 9.35
>>
>> george
>> gfsomsel
>
> And then there's Mark 1:5 καὶ ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς
> αὐτὸν πᾶσα ἡ Ἰουδαία χώρα καὶ οἱ
> Ἱεροσολυμῖται πάντες, καὶ
> ἐβαπτίζοντο ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ
> Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ ἐξομολογούμενοι
> τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.
>
> KAI EXEPOREUETO PROS AUTON PASA hH IOUDAIA CWRA KAI hOI IEROSOLUMITAI
> PANTES, KAI EBAPTIZONTO hUP' AUTOU EN TWi IORDANHi POTAMWi
> EXOLOMOLOGOUMENOI TAS hAMARTIAS AUTWN.
>
> of which some want to say that PASA and PANTES here don't really mean
> "all of Judaea" and "all the people of Jerusalem" but that these are
> figurative terms. I've never been convinced of that.
>
> Carl W. Conrad

How would you then interpret the English word "all"? Does "all the people of Jerusalem" refer to 
each and every inhabitant in the city or to a lot of people from the city? "All of Judaea" is a 
metonymy which refers to "all" the people living in the land called Judaea. How would you interpret 
"All of California came to see the president when he visited LA"?
I won't comment on the placement of PAS in these two noun phrases, since we have agreed to disagree 
on the function of word order.

>From a mathematical and strictly logical point of view, "all" is taken to mean each and every one 
without exception. However, in common language "all" rarely has such an extreme connotation. It 
depends on the context as George said.

The interesting question for the translator is in which contexts the Greek PAS is best translated by 
"all" and when it is better translated by "many" or "every kind of" or something else. PAS has a 
semantic range of senses that does not completely overlap with the semantic range of "all" in 
English. But that is not unusual. The semantic range of "all" in English is not the same as the 
semantic range of the corresponding word in related languages like German, French, Danish etc.

Iver Larsen 




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