[B-Greek] Redundant idioms?
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Sep 17 11:47:11 EDT 2010
On Sep 17, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Blue Meeksbay wrote:
> 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?
You may well be doing just that.
I wonder whether all usages of EPI TO AUTO aren't being lumped together without good reason. BDAG seems to draw some distinction between usages of the phrase,
s.v. EPI:
β. ἐ. τὸ αὐτό at the same place, together (Ps.-X., Respublica Athen. [The Old Oligarch] 2, 2; Pla., Rep. 329a; SIG 736, 66 [92 BC]. In pap=‘in all’: PTebt 14, 20 [114 BC]; PFay 102, 6.—2 Km 2:13; En 100:2) εἶναι ἐ. τὸ αὐτό be together Lk 17:35; Ac 1:15; 2:1, 44. In 1 Cor 7:5 it is a euphemistic expr. for sexual union. κατοικεῖν ἐ. τὸ αὐτό live in the same place (Dt 25:5) Hm 5, 1, 4. Also w. verbs of motion (Sus 14 Theod.) συνέρχεσθαι ἐ. τὸ αὐτό come together to the same place 1 Cor 11:20; 14:23; cp. B 4:10 (Just., A I, 67, 3 συνέλευσις γίνεται). συνάγεσθαι (Phlegon of Tralles [Hadr.]: 257 fgm. 36 III 9 Jac.; PsSol 2:2; TestJob 28:5 Jos., Bell. 2, 346) Mt 22:34; Ac 4:26 (Ps 2:2); 1 Cl 34:7. ἐ. τὸ αὐτὸ μίγνυσθαι be mixed together Hm 10, 3, 3. προσετίθει ἐ. τὸ αὐτό added to their number Ac 2:47.
This suggests that Mt 22.34 isn't "come together together" but "come together to the same place."
Greek does commonly use a compounded verb together with a prepositional phrase employing the same adverbial preposition, e.g. συνήχθησαν σὺν αὐτοῖ (SUNHCQHSAN SUN AUTOIS] or ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ τῆς οἰκιας [EXHLQEN EK THS OIKIAS]. If SUNAGESQAI EPI TO AUTO and SUNERCESQAI EPI TO AUTO are in fact redundant, it doesn't really seem particularly remarkable in the Greek.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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