[B-Greek] πᾶσαι = only two in Matt. 13.56?
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Tue Mar 8 20:45:47 EST 2011
On Mar 8, 2011, at 8:36 PM, Mark Goodacre wrote:
> Matt. 13.56: καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαὶ αὐτοῦ οὐχὶ πᾶσαι πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰσιν;
>
> KAI hAI ADELFAI AUTOU OUCI PASAI PROS hHMAS EISIN;
>
> This is usually translated "And are not *all* his sisters with us?"
> However, Richard Bauckham suggests that "Although Matthew refers to
> 'all his sisters', we cannot tell whether there were more than two,
> since Greek can use 'all' for only two" ("The Relatives of Jesus",
> Themelios 21.2 (January 1996): 18-21 (18)). I think it would be odd,
> though, to read this verse as suggesting two sisters only. The usual
> translation of PAS and the emphasis here suggest to me a rhetorical
> "all" rather than "both". Can anyone think of good examples of PAS
> meaning "both"?
I can't. Moreover, there's a perfectly good word for "both" that I find
used 14x in the GNT, 129x in the LXX: ἀμφότεροι [AMFOTEROI].
Although there are no feminine examples in the GNT, the word is
available. I'd think the burden of proof that it refers to only two
rests with the person making the claim.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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