[B-Greek] Justin Martyr's use of KATA

stoixein at sdf.lonestar.org stoixein at sdf.lonestar.org
Tue Sep 22 17:10:39 EDT 2009


I have a question regarding the English translation from Justin's Dialogue
from Trypho, chapter 40

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/justinmartyr-dialoguetrypho.html
For the lamb, which is roasted, is roasted and dressed up in the form of
the cross. For one spit is transfixed right through from the lower parts up
to the head, and one _across_ the back, to which are attached the legs of
the lamb.  I am looking at the phrase "and one across the back."

The reason I bring this up is because of the comment in the New Schaff &
Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. 3, p. 313

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc03.c.xiii.html#c.xiii-Page_313
no definite data are found in the New Testament concerning the nature of
the cross on which Jesus died. It is only the Church writers after Justin
Martyr who indicate the composite four-armed cross as Christ’s vehicle of
torture

I transcribed the Greek from Mignes and looked up the words in BDAG and
LJS9 for: KAI hEIS PALIN KATA TO METAFRENON PROSARTWNTAI KAI hAI XERES TOU
PROBATOU

BDAG lists for PALIN the gloss "2. pert. to repetition in the same (or
similar) manner, again, once more, anew" and KATA (w. accusative) as "a.
of extension in space, along, over, through, in, upon."

Therefore my translation is  "and one in the same manner along the back to
which are attached also the legs of the lamb."   Prepositions can be
tricky and I am not sure if there is a better lexicon

for Justin Martyr such as Lampe which I do not own.

In addition to testing the translation I checked references to how a lamb
might be cooked on a spit and it appears to be that a second skewer at
right angles across the back of the lamb would not allow for the legs to
be attached.  It would be anatomically impossible.   The front legs would
need to be stretched out to be attached to a skewer that is parallel to or
identical to the one that is inserted lengthwise, or there would need to
be two smaller cross pieces such as what I found at the eHow to barbecue a
lamb on a spit at

http://www.ehow.com/how_2145452_roast-lamb-spit.html
If you plan to roast the lamb open style, you need two crossbars attached
to your spit to secure the legs.

The reason two are needed is because it would be physically impossible to
attach either front legs or back legs to a skewer placed at right angles
to the one that runs lengthwise through the lamb carcass.

Can anyone improve upon my translation or justify the word "across" found
at www.earlychristianwritings.com?

I am only exploring translation issues here and not doctrinal ones.


Best Regards,
Dan Parker






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