Luke 2:23 διανοῖγον μήτραν

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

Luke 2:23 διανοῖγον μήτραν

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Luke 2:23 wrote:καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν νόμῳ κυρίου ὅτι Πᾶν ἄρσεν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἅγιον τῷ κυρίῳ κληθήσεται
In that, is the phrase διανοῖγον μήτραν an expression a Greek speaker without Old Testament background might have used?

Besides the question above, for parallel structures with a quote of consequence using πᾶς with a participle + a future - as listed below - they basically seem to be in quotations from the Old Testament, and sayings that may have originated in another language and been translated into Greek - Meaning that they are far more frequent in the Gospels (Jesus words) than in the epistles (composed in Greek). Did native Greek speakers use this type of structure, or is it a structural claque?
  • It seems that (cf. Luke 6:40, 6:47, 11:10 [the sense of πᾶς extends, but is not written], Luke 14:11, 18:14, 20:18, 20:38, John 4:13, 6:40, 11:26, 16:2, Romans 9:33, 10:11, 13 ...)
    Matthew 26:52 wrote:πάντες γὰρ οἱ λαβόντες μάχαιραν ἐν μαχαίρᾳ ἀποθανοῦνται
    (NA-UBS - μαχαίρῃ ἀπολοῦνται)
  • Without participles (cf. Luke 3:5,6 ...)
    Mark 9:49 wrote:Πᾶς γὰρ πυρὶ ἁλισθήσεται, καὶ πᾶσα θυσία ἁλὶ ἁλισθήσεται
  • With a relative clause (cf. Luke 12:10, Acts 3:23 ...)
    Luke 12:8 wrote:]Πᾶς ὃς ἂν ὁμολογήσῃ ἐν ἐμοὶ ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁμολογήσει ἐν αὐτῷ ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ·
  • In the case of the negative it is in the present (John 12:46 [subjunctive] ...)
    Luke 3:9 wrote:πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Carlson
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Joined: May 11th, 2011, 10:51 am
Location: Melbourne
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Re: Luke 2:23 διανοῖγον μήτραν

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Stephen Hughes wrote:
Luke 2:23 wrote:καθὼς γέγραπται ἐν νόμῳ κυρίου ὅτι Πᾶν ἄρσεν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἅγιον τῷ κυρίῳ κληθήσεται
In that, is the phrase διανοῖγον μήτραν an expression a Greek speaker without Old Testament background might have used?
I did a TLG search (with μήτραν within one lne of all forms of διανοίγειν), and the answer appears to be no. The earliest instances are in the LXX and all later writers using it are either Jewish, Christian, or both.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
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