[B-Greek] Hebrews 13.2... now it's deponent, not it's not
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Jun 14 13:19:06 EDT 2009
On Jun 14, 2009, at 10:15 AM, Mitch Larramore wrote:
> τῆς φιλοξενίας μὴ ἐπιλανθάνεσθε,
> διὰ ταύτης γὰρ ἔλαθόν τινες
> ξενίσαντες ἀγγέλους.
>
> THS FILOXENIAS H EPILANQANESQE, DIA TAUTHS GAR ELAQON TINES
> XENISANTES AGGELOUS
>
> 1. What accounts for EPILANQANESQE (from EPI + LANQANOMAI) being
> deponent but ELAQON (from LANQANW) is not??
These are two different verbs: (1) EPILANQANOMAI, a middle verb (what
the many call a "deponent") meaning, "forget" or "neglect" (basically
"fail to be aware of"), and (2) LANQANW, meaning "elude, stay unseen
(while doing something)." Both derive from the same root LAQ which has
the basic sense "hiddenness" or "concealment." This root appears also
notably in the adjective ALHQHS, formed with an alpha privative and
meaning, originally, "un-concealed" or "un-disguised." I think it was
the German existentialist philosopher who suggested that the noun
ALHQEIA, which we usually English as "truth," means something like,
"what we see when all the wrappers and disguises and masks have been
stripped away."
> 2. What is the relationship between ELAQON and TINES XENISANTES?
LANQANW is a verb that ordinarily construes with a participle
indicating precisely what the subject of LANQANW is doing while unseen
or being unaware. It's frequently used of some stealthy or underhanded
behavior that goes undetected by those who will be harmed or
benefitted from the behavior in question, e.g. hOI DESMWTAI ELAQON
TOUS FULAKAS FEUGONTES, "The prisoners escaped without the guards
noticing them." ELAQON TINES XENISANTES AGGELOUS means "Some (unnamed)
persons have played host to angels without being aware of it." There's
a strange, fascinating Hellenistic Greek proverb, LAQE BIWSAS, that
means something like "Live your life without being noticed."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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