[B-Greek] Newbie question about I come/go
Mike Noel
mike at vnoel.com
Thu Jan 22 11:25:47 EST 2009
This is such an interesting email list but since I'm still quite the
beginner most of the topics are well over my head. I am confused
about the different words for I come/go. In particular I'm looking at
the following words:
ἔρχομαι (ERCOMAI) -- deponent
βαίνω (BAINW)
πορεύομαι (POREUOMAI) -- deponent
Machen (the text I'm using), translates ἔρχομαι (ERCOMAI) as "I
come" or "I go" while the other two are only translated as "I go".
However, there are cases where prepositions are combined with the
words to make "I go" become "I come". For example συνερχομαι
(SUNERCOMAI) is "I come together" instead of "I go together".
In English (which, unfortunately is the only language I know), the
difference between "coming" and "going" is pretty clear. Both words
refer to the concept of the subject moving from one location to
another but there seems to be a distinction made based on the
movement relative to the audience. "going" is moving away from the
audience while "coming" is moving toward the audience. Even with a
third person subject:
"He goes to the house" --> implies that the audience is not at the house
"He comes to the house" --> implies that the audience is at the house
My limited exposure to the Greek come/go verbs it appears that this
distinction doesn't exist. In fact, it appears that all three of
those verbs are interchangeable in describing movement of the subject.
I'm sure this isn't the case. I'm sure there is some sort of
explanation about how these words are related to each other. I just
don't know what it is.
Can someone shed some light on this? When I'm trying to translate "I
go to the house" from English to Greek which of the following is
correct:
βαίνω πρὸς τὸν οἶκον (BAINW PROS TON OIKON)
ἔρχομαι πρὸς τὸν οἶκον (ERCOMAI PROS TON OIKON)
πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν οἶκον (POREUOMAI PROS TON OIKON)
And do all of these mean the same thing or are there subtle differences?
Thanks.
-Mike Noel
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