[B-Greek] Etymology

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Jun 28 10:32:48 EDT 2009


On Jun 28, 2009, at 10:00 AM, Bill Shea wrote:

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========
From: Bill Shea <bshea at ksu.edu>
Date: June 28, 2009 10:00:22 AM EDT
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Etymology

I am interested in the etymology of the Greek prefix SU, particularly  
as it relates to Ephesians 3:6.

Bill Shea

P.S. This is my first posting to the list. I just found it today.
=========
The text in question:
Eph. 3:6 εἶναι τὰ ἔθνη συγκληρονόμα καὶ  
σύσσωμα καὶ συμμέτοχα τῆς  
ἐπαγγελίας ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τοῦ  
εὐαγγελίου,
[EINAI TA EQNH SUGKLHRONOMA KAI SUSSWMA KAI SUMMETOCA THS EPAGGELIAS  
EN CRISTWi IHSOU DIA TOU EUAGGELIOU.[

The prefix appearing in the three adjectives here, SUGKLHRONOMA,  
SUSSWMA, and SUMMETOCA, is actually not SU- but rather SUN, identical  
with the preposition SUN, ordinarily Englished as "with" or "together  
with" or "in company with." The -N- of SUN- as prefix regularly  
assimilates to a following consonant.

I don't know that there's really anything particularly useful to say  
about the etymology of SUN-; in older Ionic and Attic dialects one  
finds it as XUN (ξυν)with a cognate adjective XUNOS  [ξυνός,  
ή, όν ] that is synonymous with KOINOS [κοινός, -η, -ον] in  
sense.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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