Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Biblical Greek morphology and syntax, aspect, linguistics, discourse analysis, and related topics
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Gustav Berloty
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Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Hello,

First, here is John 10:22 :
Ἐγένετο τότε τὰ ἐνκαίνια ἐν τοῖς Ἰεροσολύμοις· χειμὼν ἦν,
(NA27)

What surprise me is the fact that Jerusalem is in the plural :
ἐν τοῖς Ἰεροσολύμοις
I don’t understand that plural at all !

Could someone help me with that please ?

Gustav.
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Names of cities in ancient Greek are often in the Plural, e.g,, Ἀθῆναι, Athens. Because it's borrowed from a Semitic language, it has both singular feminine forms and neuter plural forms in the NT.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Gustav Berloty
Posts: 15
Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Oh ok thanks, but when you say :
it's borrowed from a Semitic language
you mean the whole ancien Greek (attic, koine, etc...) language is borrowed from a Semitic language, or only the N.T ancien Greek ?
Would you have some ressources explaining that more deeply ?
Stephen Carlson
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Location: Melbourne
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Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Gustav Berloty wrote: December 11th, 2020, 7:56 pm Oh ok thanks, but when you say :
it's borrowed from a Semitic language
you mean the whole ancien Greek (attic, koine, etc...) language is borrowed from a Semitic language, or only the N.T ancien Greek ?
Would you have some ressources explaining that more deeply ?
No, just the name Jerusalem.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Gustav Berloty wrote: December 11th, 2020, 7:56 pm Oh ok thanks, but when you say :
it's borrowed from a Semitic language
you mean the whole ancien Greek (attic, koine, etc...) language is borrowed from a Semitic language, or only the N.T ancien Greek ?
Would you have some ressources explaining that more deeply ?
Of course, I meant neither. As Stephen pointed out, the antecedent of "its" is only the word Jerusalem.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Gustav Berloty
Posts: 15
Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Ok :)

Then,
Names of cities in ancient Greek are often in the Plural, e.g,, Ἀθῆναι, Athens.
is there any reason for this ? (it’s maybe a hard or crazy question sorry)

And about :
it has both singular feminine forms and neuter plural forms in the NT
I have again those following questions:
Is there any difference in meaning between those two forms ? And more generally between the singular form of a city and its plural ?
(My answers now to these questions is: I don’t think so.
But confirmations would be helpful.)

Thanks for any help.
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Gustav Berloty wrote: December 12th, 2020, 1:40 pm Ok :)

Then,
Names of cities in ancient Greek are often in the Plural, e.g,, Ἀθῆναι, Athens.
is there any reason for this ? (it’s maybe a hard or crazy question sorry)

And about :
it has both singular feminine forms and neuter plural forms in the NT
I have again those following questions:
Is there any difference in meaning between those two forms ? And more generally between the singular form of a city and its plural ?
(My answers now to these questions is: I don’t think so.
But confirmations would be helpful.)

Thanks for any help.
1) It's one of those features of the language that you just learn when learning the language. I've never seen a "reason" proposed.

2) There is no difference in meaning. It's what we call a "formal" distinction, i.e., a distinction in form only.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Gustav Berloty
Posts: 15
Joined: May 23rd, 2020, 9:24 am
Location: France

Re: Jerusalem in plural form in John 10:22 ??

Post by Gustav Berloty »

Nice, thanks a lot!
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