[B-Greek] SEIRAS as 'braids' in Judges 16:13-19?

Mark Lightman lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 25 11:39:38 EDT 2010


Daniel wrote

<It is the duty of a lexicon to give every MEANING of a word, regardless of how seldom it is used for that MEANING. Therefore if SEIRAS means 'braids' even once in the LXX, then 'braids' needs to be a heading in the lexicon.>

Hi, Daniel,

I never really thought of a lexicon as having a "duty," but I suppose, 
yes, that is one way to look at it.  But I am reminded of what the 
doctor said to McBeth when he was asked to cure his wife:

"Therein the patient must minister to himself."


 Mark L 



FWSFOROS MARKOS 




________________________________
From: Daniel Buck <bucksburg at yahoo.com>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Fri, June 25, 2010 9:08:41 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] SEIRAS as 'braids' in Judges 16:13-19?

I thought of a parallel problem: What is the meaning of BRK in Hebrew? Well, we know that the root meaning is 'to kneel', but the primary meaning is 'to bless'.  Could it, however, ever mean 'curse'? As ridiculous as that seems, sure enough, in Job 1-2 and nowhere else, it means 'to curse'. And what do you know, my lexicon reads:

BRK
III. meton. by a euphemism, to curse God, comp. Job 1:5, 11

It is the duty of a lexicon to give every MEANING of a word, regardless of how seldom it is used for that MEANING. Therefore if SEIRAS means 'braids' even once in the LXX, then 'braids' needs to be a heading in the lexicon.

Now I am suspicious about something. Until the lexicons get this straightened out, whenever I see 'locks' as a translation of a Greek word, I'm going to wonder if it is translating SEIRAS and perhaps actually refers to 'braids'.

Clement of Alexandria, Paed. 3.11, “It is enough for women to 
protect their locks, and bind up their hair simply along the neck with a plain hair-pin, nourishing chaste locks with simple care to true 
beauty.” ANF 2:286.

Daniel Buck



________________________________
From: Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>
To: Daniel Buck <bucksburg at yahoo.com>; B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thu, June 24, 2010 8:18:02 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek]  SEIRAS as 'braids' in Judges 16:13-19?


Daniel egrapse:

<Could the lexicons be amiss here in not giving 'braids' as a specific 
meaning of SEIRA...?>

Hi, Daniel,

Winston Churchill said, about beating the Germans, "Give us the tools and we'll
finish the job."  By "tools" he meant "military and economic aid from America."
If you look up the word "tool" in even the best English dictionaries, you won't find
this meaning, but everyone knew what Mr. Churchill meant.  My dad was seven years old
at the time, and HE knew what it meant.

It's funny you bring this up, because recently somebody on the List--I forgot who, maybe
Barry or James S or somebody-- complained about the opposite phenomenon, namely where
a lexicon lists as definition what is clearly just a metaphoric meaning.  My favorite lexicon,
Langensscheidt's Pocket Greek Dictionary glosses the word with "rope, string, chain" and with this,
I doubt anyone would fail to understand the passage from Judges.  That should be our standard,
I think.

<...or have I just not looked at enough lexicons?>

I don't know, Daniel.  How many lexicons does a man need?  Oscar Wilde defined
monogamy as "one marriage too many."  I would not go that far; I would not say that
one lexicon is one too many, but I will say this.  I see no reason why

WARNING. WARNING.  MARKOS ULTRA-NAUSEAM ALERT. THE FOLLOWING THOUGHT
HAS BEEN REHASHED BY MARKOS TO THE POINT WHERE IF YOU CONTINUE READING
YOU MAY WIND UP EXPERIENCING PHYSICAL DISCOMFORT. WARNING WARNING

we should treat these Greek lexicons any differently than we do our English ones.
When was the last time you found fault with your English dictionary?  When was the 
last time you told your son to look up a word in an English dictionary but you checked
first to make sure it did not give a one word gloss?  We almost never put form before
meaning in English.  We seem to do it all the time with Greek.  I'm trying to figure out
why we do this so much, and whether it is a bad thing. 

Anyway, I did enjoy your question.  ERRWSO.



Mark L



FWSFOROS MARKOS




________________________________
From: Daniel Buck <bucksburg at yahoo.com>
To: B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wed, June 23, 2010 12:45:07 PM
Subject: [B-Greek]  SEIRAS as 'braids' in Judges 16:13-19?

The usual meaning of SEIRA is a rope or cord. But in the account of Sampson and Delida, the LXX uses it in v. 13, 14, and 19 to refer to Sampson's hair, "TAS hEPTA SEIRAS THS KEFALHS."  I can't imagine Sampson's uncut hair falling naturally into seven discrete strands each time it is mentioned, so it seems that what he did was wear his long hair in seven braids. And a braid does in fact bring to mind the twisted joining of strands into a rope.

Could the lexicons be amiss here in not giving 'braids' as a specific meaning of SEIRA, or have I just not looked at enough lexicons?

Daniel Buck


      
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