[B-Greek] Ambiguity
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Feb 7 05:25:32 EST 2010
On Feb 7, 2010, at 3:58 AM, Vasile STANCU wrote:
> Excuse me, but what does Luke mean when he says (Lk 1:3), using the word ἄνωθεν ANWQEN,
>
> ἔδοξε κἀμοὶ παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς καθεξῆς σοι γράψαι, κράτιστε
> Θεόφιλε,
>
> EDOCE KAMOI PARHKOLOUQHKOTI ANWQEN AKRIBWS KAQEXHS SOI GAYAI, KRATISTE QEOFILE
>
> What is the meaning of this word in this context, as associated with γράψαι
> GRAYAI? And why does it seem to be so difficult to apply it the same way when
> associated with γεννηθῆναι GENNHQHNAI?
In Lk 1:4 ANWQEN has the other sense of "da capo": "from the beginning."
Here the compositional elements do play some role:
-QEN is an ablatival sense: "from" or "away from"
-ANW- is a compositional form of the adverb/preposition meaning "above/over"
or "back/behind" -- especially in antithesis to KATW as a compositional form of
the adverb/preposition meaning "down/forward" (think "cataphoric" and "anaphoric"
as backward-referring" and "forward-referring" respectively.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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