[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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