[b-greek] re: Jerusalem

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Sep 25 2000 - 06:40:26 EDT


At 8:44 PM -0400 9/24/00, Jim West wrote:
>At 11:39 AM 9/24/00 -0500, you wrote:
>>Greetings B-Greek List,
>>
>>I have a question regarding John 2:23.
>>My question has to do with the plural form of Jerusalem.
>>
>>I noticed that it is in the dative but why is it plural? I am not having
>>any luck with my commentaries or
>>lexicons. I don't believe that there is any theological reason that it
>>should be plural, or is there?
>
>because in hebrew it is yerushalayim.... a dual form. rendered in greek in
>the plural because there is no dual in greek.
>
>its that simple.

Well, actually there IS a dual in Greek with distinctive endings in each of
the 3 declensions for nom/acc and gen/dat respectively. They are not found
in ordinary prose in the Hellenistic period, but they are used in poetry
and prose of well-educated literary figures, all the more so in the second
century A.D. and beyond. But Jim is right to the extent that there's no
dual in the Greek of NT writers.

-- 

Carl W. Conrad Department of Classics/Washington University One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018 Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649 cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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