Could σαπρός + στόμα + ἀγαθός allude to καρπὸς τοῦ στόματος?

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Stephen Hughes
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Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Could σαπρός + στόμα + ἀγαθός allude to καρπὸς τοῦ στόματος?

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Ephesians 4:29 (SGH added parenthetical phrase) wrote:Πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν μὴ ἐκπορευέσθω,ἀλλ’ εἴ τις ἀγαθὸς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας {ἐκπορευέσθω ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ὑμῶν}, ἵνα δῷ χάριν τοῖς ἀκούουσιν.
"Every rotten word, don't let it proceed from your mouth (= bite your tongue /press your lips together if you want to say something bad), but if there is anything good for the edification of need, (let it proceed from your mouth), so that you may give grace to those who hear you."
Is this word σαπρός - an adjective for fruit - "rotten" together with στόμα (and ἀγαθὸς) enough of a clue to conjure an allusion to the καρπὸς τοῦ στόματος / χειλέων imagery?
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Could σαπρός + στόμα + ἀγαθός allude to καρπὸς τοῦ στόμα

Post by Stephen Carlson »

I don't know what work you want "allude" to do, but, for what it's worth, Matt 7:17-18, 12:33; Luke 6:43 demonstrate that the collocation of σαπρός and καρπός was alive.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Could σαπρός + στόμα + ἀγαθός allude to καρπὸς τοῦ στόμα

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Stephen Carlson wrote:I don't know what work you want "allude" to do
Yes, I don't either, the pin-it-down meaning of "allude" is elusive. This and the other couple of threads I've started recently are never going to arrive at a single, correct objective answer. The best that I'm hoping to get is going to be "informed" subjectivity or "considered" / "educated" opinion.

Where I think it is going is somewhere like,
Proverbs 12:14 wrote:12:14 ἀπὸ καρπῶν στόματος ψυχὴ ἀνδρὸς πλησθήσεται ἀγαθῶν ἀνταπόδομα δὲ χειλέων αὐτοῦ δοθήσεται αὐτῷ
"From the fruits of the mouth, the soul of a man is satisfied (filled) with good, and the recompense of his lips will be given to him."
or somewhere else similar in the proverb / moral behaviour area.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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