[B-Greek] hUPER w. acc. as location above/over - or not?
Ken Penner
kpenner at stfx.ca
Thu Mar 10 14:12:36 EST 2011
We see the sense of superiority in Matthew 10:24||Luke 6:40 OUK ESTIN MAQHTHS hUPER TON DIDASKALON Οὐκ ἔστιν μαθητὴς ὑπὲρ τὸν διδάσκαλον
But this superiority is not spatial; it has the sense of the one being more than or beyond the other, a sense which is common enough for hUPER with the accusative.
The only physical "above" for hUPER+acc. I know of is Deuteronomy 28:23: hO OURANOS hO hUPER KAFALHS SOU ὁ οὐρανὸς ὁ ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς σου.
For spatial "above," the compounds of ANW (hUPERANW and EPANW) were used.
Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
St. Francis Xavier University
902-867-2265
kpenner at stfx.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Eric S. Weiss
Sent: March-10-11 10:53 AM
To: b-greek
Subject: [B-Greek] hUPER w. acc. as location above/over - or not?
I had been taught (and have myself taught) that hUPER with the accusative case
means "over/above" - i.e., the opposite of hUPO with the accusative case.
Indeed, Metzger's chart in his Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek
p. 80 - Table II Geometric Arrangement of the Greek Prepositions - shows
hUPER w. acc. as meaning physically "above."
Yet in looking today at BDAG, whereas hUPO w. acc. can indeed mean "below"
in terms of location, there is no corresponding "above" (location) for hUPER in
the
definitions.
BDAG hUPO w. acc.:
B. w. acc.
- a position below an object or another position, under, w. acc. of place under,
below
- marker of that which is in a controlling position, under, under the control
of, under
obligation in ref. to power, rule, sovereignty, command, etc.
- marker of the approximate time of a period, about w. acc.
BDAG hUPER w. acc.:
B. w. acc.
- marker of a degree beyond that of a compared scale of extent, in the sense of
excelling, surpassing, over and above, beyond, more than
So, can hUPER w. acc. mean physically above or over something (i.e., the
opposite of hUPO w. acc.) in NT Greek, or not?
- - -
Eric S. Weiss
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