[B-Greek] PETROS as a 1st century common noun?
Charles Johnson
cpj5117 at gmail.com
Sat Jun 6 10:50:37 EDT 2009
Does the distinction of meaning visible in Plutarch hold for the LXX and NT?
In Isaiah 2:21 PETROS and PETRA are both used, in what appears to me to
refer to the same thing. In Jer. 30:10 PETRWN seems to refer to a mountain
or a cliff. Also, in Rom. 9:33, PETRAN SKANDALOU refers to a rock that you
can trip over (right?). So, that wouldn't be bedrock, would it? Also, in 1
Pet. 2:8, PETRA occurs parallel to LIQOS.
On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 4:45 AM, Randall Buth <randallbuth at gmail.com> wrote:
> Johnson egrapse
> >After looking through the LXX and NT, I wonder what happened to the noun
> PETROS. It occurs in some in the LXX, and appears to be virtually
> synonymous
> with the more common PETRA. In the NT, it doesn't appear to be used at all
> except as the proper name Peter. It seems to have been replaced by LIQOS.
> Did PETROS pass out of existence as a common noun by the first century, and
> if so, should we understand the name Peter to be a masculinization of
> PETRA?>
>
> George mentioned 2xx in Philo.
> In addition, with 7 xx in Josephus and 21 in Plutarch one can only say
> that PETROS
> is less common than LIQOS. In any case, PETROS was still in use in Greek.
> In Plutarch a PETROS can be big enough to be lifted by two hands by a bald
> old man, though is still to be distinguished from 'bedrock, large rock'
> petra.
>
> More importantly, PETROS is attested as a name פטרוס a couple times in
> HEBREW
> literature referring to early (2nd century and 2-3 CE) people. Surely
> that is of interest,
> especially if you assume that the name was not borrowed from the
> Christians.
>
>
> blessings
> Randall
>
>
> --
> Randall Buth, PhD
> www.biblicalulpan.org
> randallbuth at gmail.com
> Biblical Language Center
> Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
>
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