[B-Greek] Mark 9:5 and APOKRIQEIS

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Nov 13 20:10:25 EST 2007


On Nov 13, 2007, at 7:52 PM, Mitch Larramore wrote:

>
> KAI APOKRIQEIS hO PETROS LEGEI TWi IHSOU hRABBI KALON
> ESTIN hHMAS hWDE EINAI KAI POIHSWMEN TREIS SKHNAS SOI
> MIAN KAI MW MIAN KAI HLIAi MIAN
>
> This word appears an aweful lot in the gospels, but it
> seems to mean more than "having answered..." In fact,
> here, there was no comment or question directed to
> Peter. Isn't LEGEI enough? What does APOKRIQEIS add to
> the semantics of this passage, or, why isn't it just
> not put in at all? Is this some kind of
> untranslateable idiom?

I think it comes close to being just that: an untranslatable idiom.  
It's true that nobody has said a word to Peter, but what he says is  
clearly in response to what he has just experienced. We might English  
it as "Peter's reaction to this was to say to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it's a  
good thing that we're here; let's put up three huts ... " But I think  
there's also a Semitism here that others may better be able to comment  
on than can I: hebraic narrative seems to be redundant in expressions  
of speaking: "and he opened his mouth and said … " or "and he spoke to  
them, saying ... " It may be that the Marcan usage here in 9:5 echoes  
that pattern, but I'm not quite sure.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)


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