[B-Greek] Redundant idioms?

Blue Meeksbay bluemeeksbay at yahoo.com
Fri Sep 17 10:35:37 EDT 2010


Hello to all–
 
In studying the phrase EPI TO AUTO, I understand it is considered an idiom, by 
many, meaning  *together.*  However, that idiomatic meaning becomes redundant 
when it is used in a verse that already has a verb carrying the same connotation 
of *together.* In such a case it seems the phrase might be understood in a more 
literal manner.
 
We also have idioms in English that can be used either way. For instance, one 
might say, *The little boy, sitting in the living room at the family reunion, 
had ants in his pants.* In this case we would understand *ants in his pants* as 
an idiom meaning, to be agitated, or restless.
 
However, if we use the same phrase in a sentence with a verb carrying the same 
sense as the idiom, we would be more than likely to understand the idiom in a 
literal sense. For instance, *The little boy, who was agitated in the living 
room, had ants in his pants.*  In other words, he really had ants in his pants!
 
This brings me to my main question, *Could a Greek writer sometimes change an 
idiom into a literal phrase by simply including a verb carrying the connotation 
of the idiom, thereby showing the reader that the phrase should be understood in 
a more literal sense?* (I say sometimes, because I realize the author might be 
using the phrase emphatically, as in Acts 4:26).
 
Here is an example of what I mean in Matt. 22:34 –
 
MATTHEW 22:34  hOI DE FARISAIOI AKOUSANTES hOTI EFIMWSEN TOUS SADDOUKAIOUS 
SUNHCQHSAN EPI TO AUTO,
 
Without a literal understanding, we do not know the goal of their getting 
together. With a more literal understanding, we now understand the purpose of 
their getting together. They are gathering together again for same purpose that 
was expressed in verse 15, that being, a conspiracy to find a way to trap Jesus 
in his words.
 
TOTE POREUQENTES hOI FARISAIOI SUMBOULION ELABON hOPWS AUTON PAGIDEUSWSIN EN 
LOGWi. MAT 22:15
 
(Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what 
He said.)  NASB
 
Therefore, in verse 34,  EPI TO AUTO would be understood in a more literal sense 
and not the simple idiom *together.*
 
(But the Pharisees, having heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, 
gathered themselves together *for the same thing.*)
 
Or, to put it into an expanded paraphrase,
 
(But the Pharisees, having heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, got 
together again for the same purpose, that being, to find a way to trap him in 
his words).
 
The tip off to the reader becomes a verb carrying the same sense as the idiom. 
Am I *splitting hairs* in this observation?
 
Regards,
Blue Harris


      


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