[B-Greek] 1 Timothy 2:4-5
Mark Lightman
lightmanmark at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 8 07:49:58 EST 2011
Hi Carl,
On a slightly unrelated note, do you think that, in this passage from Euripides,
for example, BOULOMAI is more "subject intensive" than QELW? How would you
falsify that?
Mark L
FWSFOROS MARKOS
________________________________
From: Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: Mark Lightman <lightmanmark at yahoo.com>
Cc: Beata Urbanek <beata.urbanek at op.pl>; George F Somsel <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>;
B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Tue, March 8, 2011 5:32:42 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] 1 Timothy 2:4-5
On Mar 8, 2011, at 7:13 AM, Mark Lightman wrote:
> Beata wrote
>
> <I'd appreciate thoughts about QELW from other people as well.>
>
> Hi, Beata,
>
> How about some thoughts from Euripides:
>
> Alcestis is about to die in place of her husband. Before she dies, she wants
>to
>
> tell him what she wants, the main thing being that she does not want her
>husband
>
> to get remarried ("the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth the
>marriage
>
> tables!") This is how she puts it:
>
> λέξαι θέλω σοι πρὶν θανεῖν ἃ βούλομαι. (LEXAI QELW SOI PRIN
> QANEIN hA BOULOMAI)
>
> "Before I die, I want to tell you what I want."
>
> She has resolved with her will (BOULOMAI) that her kids would be better off
> without a step-mother, but it is her heart's wish (QELW) that a woman be really
>
> heard by her husband, if only once, if only here.
Mark, I just can't see how you're getting that sense from this text; you're
talking
about matters that are altogether out of the scope of this statement, which
would
seem to be saying no more than, "I want to tell you what's on my mind." I think
we might very well argue that "what's on my mind" (hA BOULOMAI) is what
she intends to accomplish by doing what she's about to do (i.e. die in place of
her husband Admetus). But the complement of QELW is nothing more than
LEXAI -- "make a statement."
It seems to me that Euripides' usage of LEXAI QELW here does not differ
significantly from the Pauline expression, OU QELW hUMAS AGNOEIN,
ADELFOI (Rom. 1:13,. 11:25 1Cor. 10:1, 12:1 2Cor. 1:8, 1Th. 4:13)
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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