[B-Greek] The difference is?
Barry
nebarry at verizon.net
Sat Jul 19 08:50:50 EDT 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vasile Stancu" <stancu at mail.dnttm.ro>
To: "'b-greek'" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 1:07 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] The difference is?
> 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, you are not completely wrong, but you don't want to "outsmart
yourself" at the beginning level. Most elementary texts have a sections or
chapters which talk about word formation in Greek, and that includes
compound forms. For those of us who started with Attic and then moved to
Koine, that is one of the most significant linguistic differences, seeing a
complex form where the simplex would normally have been used in Attic. My
advice is to pay attention to those "word formation" sections in whatever
beginning grammar you might be using, and simply to learn the meanings of
the words as they are presented to you. After a while, you'll just grasp it
intuitively, but pay attention to the context and use the lexica if you get
into trouble!
N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Professor, WRTS
http://www.wittenbergreformed.org
Mentor, TNARS http://www.tnars.net/
Classics Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
and me:
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry
http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list