[B-Greek] Ambiguity
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Sun Feb 7 06:15:41 EST 2010
On Feb 7, 2010, at 6:01 AM, Vasile STANCU wrote:
> Indeed, it is the same way that I perceived the sense of that word in Luke. But to me, phrases like 'from the beginning' and 'again' may be quite equivalent. In Romanian language, we use phrases that may be translated into English as 'make it from the beginning', 'make it again' or 'remake it' quite equivalently. Of course, I do not appeal to my native language as a standard by which Greek should be judged, but I am asking why we cannot accept that the meaning of ἄνωθεν ANWQEN in Luke may apply the same way in Nikodemos' reply, since the logic of the conversation points in that sense?
The language is metaphoric in any case. Nicodemus' reply to Jesus reveals
the puzzlement of a person who wants to understand in literal terms what is
stated in metaphoric terms. Phraseology regarding temporal relationships is
probably somewhat awkward in many languages, sometimes involving
redundant expressions such as the notorious (and overused) American English
expression from "Yogi" Berra for "again": "Déj¡a vu all over again."
CW Conrad
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Conrad [mailto:cwconrad2 at mac.com]
> Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2010 12:26 PM
> To: Vasile STANCU
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Ambiguity
>
> 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.
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