Homer Koine Greek and the Verb Greegoreoo

This post is as much a #wordstudy as #biblestudy discussing how a verb used by #Homer was transformed in #KoineGreek usage.

Mark 13 32-37 features the verb Greegoreoo three times first as a Present Subjunctive and then twice as a Present Imperative with a meaning of WATCH BE ALERT AWARE AWAKE

I was looking at related forms to study its meaning and discovered its related to egeiroo and here's the odd thing. The #Koine form that split off from Egeiroo derives from Homeric Perfect usages.

Somehow over the centuries the Perfect / Pluperfect used as Present  Egreegora  e+gree+gor+a got regularized and standardized to follow the -O pattern for the present.

Some users maybe hearing Homeric forms like Egreegoraww seem to have thought Egreegora was perhaps an Aorist and dropped the E.

That these forms appear in Koine perhaps also shows that people was listening to Homeric recitations or reading Homer without an adequate commentary or a teacher to guide them?

It is also an example of the disappearance of perfect forms discussed in Browning's Medieval and Modern Greek.

So why did Mark choose to use this word ? And where did he hear or learn it used in the Koine form rather than using Egeiroo?

Frankly I can't do more than speculate but I suspect he choose it for impact ?

RISING AND RISEN a SHORT NOTE on EGEIROO

A short note on #egeiroo #biblestudy #newtestamentgreek #greek #gospels

Why is egeiroo used in the gospels?
Or indeed elsewhere in Greek Literature?

Some observations that may be of use even if your interest in Greek is more "Classical".

Egeiroo means (Liddell and Scott Lexicon)

Awaken wake up stir rouse raise erect 

Why use this as a verb in Greek to describe the #Resurrection?

The Resurrection is also described as a noun as being a "upstand / vertical stance/ rising up to a vertical position" #anastasis in #greek from anisteemi.

Egeiroo seems to be used to emphasize a return to a HIGHER ENERGY STATE to emphasize the difference between death and life.

One of the reasons I like Greek as a language is the way it can be used to express energy states. active, passive, reciprocal, perfect, aorist, and more.

In the New Testament  and Matthew #Jesus uses egeiroo in verses #matthew16:21, 17:23, and 20:19  and in chapter 28 it is the verb  translated as risen in the RSV in verses 6, " ... he has risen for as he said." and verse 7 again He has risen from the dead".

As I type this at noon on a Sunday in my time zone many of us are turning our thoughts to Easter for secular and religious reasons, school holidays, excuses to eat chocolate, bible study focusing on Easter, church services.

Whatever stirs you up about Easter chocolate or church or both do have a good one.

I'm be sharing some new and resharing some older Easter Cards over the next few weeks and those hoping for something more secular I have had some fresh thoughts on Greek cities to share.

Expect a post sometime midweek on the city of GORTYN in CRETE.