[B-Greek] The difference is?
Vasile Stancu
stancu at mail.dnttm.ro
Sat Jul 19 01:07:15 EDT 2008
Isn't it true that cases like this mark some extension of meaning from "something" to "a system/environment related to something"? I have come to this idea not by systematic study or by consulting lexicons but by reading extensively (as much as "extensively" may mean for one who has been still in the beginner's stage for a few years). For instance, when I first read the word μετοικεσία METOIKESIA in Mt 1:11, I just liked very much the way it sounded and I took it as a new word in itself. Later however, when I found the word κατοικεσία KATOIKESIA, I realized that both these words have something in common and they are compound words: μετά META + οἴκος OIKOS > οἰκεσία OIKESIA -> μετοικεσία METOIKESIA, etc. Later it was not surprising to me that such combination like παροικεσία PAROIKESIA is there. Theoretically at least, words like μέτοικος METOIKOS/κάτοικος KATOIKOS/πάροικος PAROIKOS may exist (by declaring this I feel like Mendeleev must have felt, leaving some blanks in his original table), as being the "something" above, based on which the "system of something", i.e. μετοικεσία METOIKESIA/κατοικεσία KATOIKESIA/παροικεσία PAROIKESIA are formed. A similar machanism may be true for οἶκος OIKOS -> οἰkία OIKIA, or νόμος NOMOS > νομία NOMIA (hence οἰκονομία OIKONOMIA). Or κακός, ή, όν KAKOS, H, ON -> κακία KAKIA. Or even πρεσβύτερος PRESBUTEROS -> περσβυτέριον PRESBUTERION.
Or, am I completely wrong?...
Vasile STANCU
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Carl Conrad
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 6:24 AM
To: Tyler Rowe
Cc: b-greek
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The difference is?
On Jul 18, 2008, at 3:31 PM, Tyler Rowe wrote:
> So I'm trying to teach myself Greek and in the book I'm using it
> lists the words oikia and oikos as words that both mean house or
> home. Why their are two words that both mean the exact same thing?
> Whats the difference between the words? I know its not really a
> question about the actual Bible but I'm still trying to learn the
> language so I can one day read it. Any help would be appreciated.
This is what a lexicon is for; this is not information that "the book
you're using" is likely to provide. OIKOS and OIKIA are words that
derive from the same root, that have overlapping meanings, but that
tend generally to be used in slightly different ways: OIKIA for a
house as a structure, OIKOS for a household as an economic unit of
persons living and working together in a shared OIKONOMIA. As I said,
these words do overlap in meaning and either one is sometimes used in
the same way as the other. Of essential NT lexical resources it would
be good to read the entry in BDAG on this; useful also for questions
of synonyms or near synonyms in GNT usage is Louw and Nida (Greek-
English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains
Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, Editors Copyright © 1988, 1989 by
the United Bible Societies, New York, NY 10023 Second Edition.)
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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