[b-greek] RE: KAI IDOU

From: Trevor & Julie Peterson (06peterson@cua.edu)
Date: Thu Nov 29 2001 - 06:10:03 EST


It does seem awkward for Greek, but I wonder if it isn't possibly an error
of translation (either from the author's Semitic mind or from a Semitic
vorlage). In Hebrew it is very common to begin a sentence with a temporal
clause and separate it from the main clause with a conjunction. In some
cases (not a lot, but a significant number), this construction results in
following the temporal clause with vhinne (KAI IDOU). Now, these temporal
clauses usually start with vayhi, which I think would normally be translated
with KAI EGENETO. We can see an example of this sort of construction in Matt
9:10:

KAI EGENETO AUTO ANAKEIMENOU EN TH OIKIA, KAI IDOU . . .

What it seems to me may be going on here in Matt 28:9 is that the temporal
clause/KAI IDOU construction is retained without KAI EGENETO. It would read
more smoothly in Greek without the extra conjunction, so perhaps that
provoked scribes to drop it. This all just off the top of my head, but it
may be some food for thought.

BTW, this reminds me--does anyone know whether IDOU tends to be used outside
of Biblical Greek in the same range that we find in the GNT and GOT? Someone
suggested to me that perhaps this is one of those cases where the sense of
the Greek term in the Bible is shaped by its use to translate an underlying
Hebrew.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wieland Willker [mailto:willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de]
> Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2001 4:22 AM
> To: Biblical Greek
> Subject: [b-greek] KAI IDOU
>
>
>
> Matthew 28:8 KAI APELQOUSAI TACU APO TOU MNHMEIOU META FOBOU KAI
> CARAS MEGALHS EDRAMON
> APAGGEILAI TOIS MAQHTAIS AUTOU.
> 28:9 [WS DE EPOREUONTO APAGGEILAI TOIS MAQHTAIS AUTOU]
> KAI IDOU IHSOUS APHNTHSEN AUTAIS LEGWN CAIRETE AI DE PROSELQOUSAI
> EKRATHSAN AUTOU TOUS
> PODAS KAI PROSEKUNHSAN AUTW
>
>
> I am pondering over Mt 28:9 and the question if the bracketed
> clause (which is only in the
> Byzantine text) eventually fell out due to homoioteleuton. My
> problem is with the
> following KAI IDOU. It sounds a bit strange to me:
> "... and ran to tell his disciples. When they walked to tell his
> disciples, and suddenly,
> ..."
> Apparently this has been felt by some scribes too, because 41
> minuscules omit the KAI.
> My question: Is KAI IDOU an idiom for "suddenly" and is it ok in
> the Byzantine text or is
> it an awkward structure?
>
> Best wishes
> Wieland
> <><
> ---------------
> Wieland Willker, Bremen, Germany
> mailto:willker@chemie.uni-bremen.de
> http://www.uni-bremen.de/~wie
>
>
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