[B-Greek] "The lexicon is wrong!"
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Sep 25 10:06:28 EDT 2007
On Sep 25, 2007, at 9:00 AM, frjsilver at optonline.net wrote:
> Dear Friends --
>
> Oh, my! YES! There are many outstanding examples of this problem
> and I consistently stumble across new ones.
>
> The situation is exacerbated because (in my experience, although
> I'm far from alone in this) 'mainstream scholarship' is often stuck
> in first gear and on the whole exhibits the same liabilities as the
> lexikons. It's those of us outside that 'mainstream' who often
> have a better handle on the text.
>
> Consider TRAPEZA in Acts 6. Traditionally, it was thought that the
> apostles were 'waiting tables' at the expense of their time and
> energy which should have been devoted to preaching and teaching, so
> they asked the Church to select seven deacons to take over the
> menial work.
>
> It's true that some commentaries barely allow the possibility that
> there might be a resonance of financial administration here, but
> most completely miss the point.
>
> Guess what H EQNIKH TRAPEZA THS hELLADOS is? No fair peeking, but
> I'll give you a hint: It's The National Bank of Greece!
>
> People who speak Greek get the meaning of Acts 6 right off the bat,
> but the experts and scholars who don't speak the language are too
> unconsciously comfortable in their dead lexikons to understand what
> was going on.
I think there's a logical short-circuit here; one might just as well
say that one who speaks (Modern) Greek may be all too unconsciously
comfortable about understanding the usage of a modern Greek word to
be the same as that of the ancient word so-spelled. It is not quite
the case that those who speak Greek today speak NT Koine Greek.
> The apostles weren't waiting tables; they were administering the
> common fund, and being overwhelmed by that task to the point that
> their preaching suffered. And they weren't doling out the money
> too efficiently either, hence the complaint of the Greek-speaking
> Protochristians that theirwidows were getting short-changed while
> the Aramaic-speaking community were apparently better served.
>
> Does anyone appreciate the significance of the fact that all seven
> of the first deacons have Greek names?!
Or that the only work that Acts tells us of the seven actually doing
is proclamation of the gospel to Greek-speaking audiences rather than
EITHER waiting tables OR financial administration of ecclesiastical
funds?
> They don't tell us that sort of thing in those lexikons!
Actually they do, if you use the right lexicons -- the ones that
should be consulted for ancient Greek and NT usage:
BDAG s.v. TRAPEZA:
c. the table on which the money changers display their coins (Pla.,
Ap. 17c; cp. PEleph 10, 2 [223/222 BC] the τραπεζῖται
ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς TRAPEZITAI EN TOIS hIEROIS) Mt 21:12;
Mk 11:15; J 2:15. Hence simply bank (Lysias, Isocr., Demosth. et al.;
EpArist; Jos., Ant. 12, 28; ins; PEleph 27, 23; POxy 98 al. in pap.
The Engl. ‘bank’ is the money-lender’s ‘bench’; s. OED s.v.
bank sb.3) διδόναι τὸ ἀργύριον ἐπὶ
τράπεζαν (DIDONAI TO ARGURION EPI TRAPEZAN) put the money in
the bank to bear interest Lk 19:23.—Ac 6:2 may contain humorous
wordplay, which mingles the idea of table service and accounting
procedures: serve as accountants (on the banking terminology s.
Field, Notes 113, referring to Plut., Caesar 721 [28, 4]; 739 [67,
1], but w. discount of meal service as a referent. In addition to
Field’s observations note the prob. wordplay relating to λόγος
(LOGOS)[for its commercial nuance s. LOGOS 2a on the same verse; s.
also Goodsp., Probs. 126f, w. reff. to pap]. For epigraphs s.
RBogaert, Epigraphica III ’76 index).—B. 352 (meal); 483; 778
(bank).
LSJ s.v. TRAPEZA):
II. money-changer's counter, ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐπὶ τῶν τ.
(EN AGORAi EPI TWN TRAPEZWN) Pl.Ap.17c, cf. Plu.2.70f; αἱ τ.
τῶν κολλυβιστῶν (hAI TRAPEZAI TWN KOLLUBISTWN) Ev.Matt.
21.12; most freq. bank, Lys 9.5, etc.; ἡ ἐργασία ἡ
τῆς τ. (hH ERGASIA hH THS TRAPEZHS) the right to operate the
bank, D.36.6; ἡ ἐγγύη ἡ ἐπὶ τὴν τ. (hH ENGGH hH
EPI THN TRAPEZAN) security given to the bank, Id.33.10;
δοῦναι ἀργύριον ἐπὶ τ. (DOUNAI ARGURION EPI THN
TRAPEZAN) Ev.Luc.19.23; τὸ ἐπὶ τὴν τ. χρέως (TO EPI
THN TRAPEZAN CREWS) D.33.24; οἱ ἐπὶ ταῖς τ. (hOI EPI
TAIS TRAPEZAIS) bankers, Isoc.17.2; κατασκευάζεσθαι
τράπεζαν (KATASKEUAZESQAI TRAPEZAN) set up a bank, Is.Fr.66;
τῆς τ. ἀνασκευασθείσης (THS TRAPEZHS
ANAKEUASQEISHS) the bank having been broken, D.33.9; δημοσία
τ. (DHMOSIA TRAPEZA) public bank at Delos, IG22.2336.180 (i B. C.);
in Egypt, POxy. 835 (Aug.), etc.; βασιλικὴ τ. in Egypt,
PEleph.27.22 (iii B. C.), PTeb.27.70 (ii B. C.), etc.;
χειριστὴς τῆς ἐν τῇ Πολέμωνος
μερίδι τ. (CEIRISTHS THS EN THi POLEMWNOS MERIDI TRAPEZHS)
PEnteux.38.1 (iii B. C.); opp. ἰδιωτικὴ τ. (IDIWTIKH
TRAPEZA) POxy.305 (i A. D.), etc.; κολλυβιστικαὶ τ.
(KOLLUBISTIKAI TRAPEZAI) ib.1411.4 (iii A. D.).
> Do we want to go into 'Our Father"? Maybe some other time....
Preferably some other time ...
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jonathan Robie
> Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 8:37 am
> Subject: [B-Greek] "The lexicon is wrong!"
> To: B-Greek
>
>> I'm involved in a discussion that revolves around the meaning of
>> a few
>> Greek words, and some of the participants in the discussion (who
>> actually don't speak Greek) are claiming that a particular word
>> doesn'tmean what it says the lexicon says, but means something
>> significantlydifferent. I doubt that they are right, and none of
>> is is a
>> lexicographer, but this makes me wonder ...
>>
>> Can you think of examples where the meaning of a New Testament
>> passage
>> has changed in the eyes of mainstream scholarship because we
>> came to
>> realize that our earlier understanding of a Greek word was
>> wrong? Are
>> there recent examples, say, in the last 20-30 years? Are there major
>> changes in the meaning of some words between BADG and BDAG?
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
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