READING AND KNOWING

#read #greek language #classicalgreek #newtestamengreek #anagignwskw #anegnwte

IN Matthew 21:18 and 22:42 Jesus uses the words ... have you never read ...

As this verb is used for Classical Greek Prose as well lets discuss

Modern Greek also uses Diabazoo 

Anaginooskoo is the Koine form of this verb.

Note the structure ANA + the GNO stem 

Reading is knowing a pattern of letters.

Knowing is not just a  fixed state but a process!

Whether studying the Greek New Testament or Classical Greek literature we read to understand. Reading silently or aloud isn't just about how or what you read or recite but learning the text.

Reading Hebrew Aramaic or Greek in their first century AD forms was also more difficult. Punctation including letter and word spacing  was a radical new idea! At least Greek had vowels included within words probably another reason many Jewish people were bilingual!

PARA NOTE

#para #greekloanwords

PARA

The Paralympics start soon so a short note and some observations on loan words and compound words using the para prefix in English.

Some well known loans from Greek are parable parabola paradigm paragraph parallel and paralysis.

But English was an odd tendency to combine the para prefix with germanic stems so you get new words like parachute, paratrooper, and paraplanner.

The Oxford defines para as meaning besides beyond wrong irregular or ancillary.

However Liddell and Scott as predominantly meaning BESIDE but also meaning from beside or from alongside of a place or person with genitive but when dative is used meaning by the side of yet with accusative it can be a movement away beyond or even against and towards so the meaning and usage is far wider then it is in English.

Thrilling Future Passives

#Greek #newtestamentgreek #Classicalgreekgrammar #futurepassive #biblestudy

Matthew 13: 11-12 Thrilling Future passives

While this is the start of a new section about the parables and the parable of the sowes be warned this first  post will focus on language features.

If you're not into #biblestudy but rather looking for verb forms examples these two verses have three beauties!

Note that he's talking to the disciples after a public preaching of a parable.

13: 11

to you it has been given dedotai PERFECT PASSIVE didoomi
to know Aorist Infinitive the mysteries of the realm of the heavens,
to them but not it has been given.

13: 12

He who(ever) note that hostis is used in Greek for has / owns hold
 (the knowledge and interpretation Jesus is about to give?)
dotheesetai FUTURE PASSIVE from didoomi will be given to him
and more / and he will have abundance / abundant knowledge?
perisseutheesetai FUTURE PASSIVE

hewhoever not has and what (he) has will have taken away from him
FUTURE PASSIVE artheesetai

If you're reading this for bible study do read and reread the rest of Chapter 13 in English or Greek or both.

Any section involving a Parable requires thought.

If you're reading cos you're studying or teaching Greek I hope you enjoy and make good use of the future passives I pointed out and the usage of hostis too!

Hedylus and Future Optative Example

Athenaeus 111. 473a quotes one of Hedylus' Epigrams which I'm sharing because it has a fine example of the Future Optative and a lovely well expressed idea which tells us something about how Hedylus viewed his own style.

Εὕροιμ̕ ἂν λεπτὸν καὶ τι μελιχρὸν ἔπος.

Literally

 I shall find subtle and a sweet song.

Note ἂν plus the optative I will try... I probably will find … I wish want it to become real ….

Don't forget the convention of placing the breathing sign over the next vowel if its an eu.

The pronunciation was probably heuroim an lepton kai ti melikhron epos.

 Heuro not euro!

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 6 hunger and thirst

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 6

Blessed (are) those who hunger and those who thirst

for righteousness for they will be satisfied

μακάριοι οἱ πεινῶντες καὶ διψῶντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην,

ὅτι αὐτοὶ χορτασθήσονται.

Luke 6:21 has those who thirst now you will be however it is a plural you so perhaps this minor difference could be explained by Luke's informant perhaps being someone standing further away from Jesus who didn't hear or remember all of the Sermon? 

πεινάω hunger and διψάω thirst two new contract verbs this time with A stems and yes διψάω is a present form not future.

The σύνη suffix is usually translated as – ness. Δικαιοσύνη comes from Δικαιος.

Χορτάζω to feed until full to be full to be satisfied.

Note the future passive.

Desire can be a good thing if focused on an ethical goal?

This has been your Sunday Bible Study Aid. Looking for something more secular?

Midweek I'm running a post series on the 3 Grace Classical theme and how its been used in Art over the centuries. 

Matthew 5 the meek will ...

Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 5

Blessed for the meek for they will inherit the earth

μακάριοι οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσιν τὴν γῆν

πραΰς is a 3^rd declension adjective with a U stem if Masculine or Neuter but behaves if if it had an e stem if feminine or plural. Meek humble gentle of low rank.

Jesus was not just preaching to the elite or religious fanatics or cultists.

Verses like this are why the Gospel is described as inclusive.

They will inherit the earth. Κληρονομέω. They will receive a share not just of an estate or property but of the earth as a whole. Note that γῆ is used not KOSMOS.

When this will happen is … an exact time is not given.

I am not going to speculate on how thus relates to Revelations or various OT prophecies. Too many people have done that already.

I will say this the “little people” the poor are as important as the rich and the elite.

Remember what is recorded elsewhere about the rich and salvation.

Remember also if you're reading this at home and have easy access to a family computer or own one yourself however simple in many parts of the world that makes you well off and wealthy.

Work to be humble.

I've received no comments yet but I do hope these posts are of some use and help to those who don't know New Testament Greek or perhaps have just started studying it and can't afford commentaries or dictionaries of their own. I was blessed with receiving a Liddell and Scott lexicon as a gift many years ago so I have a print copy at home thankfully. Its getting harder and harder to find second hand copies so I hope these notes and other metousia blog posts are helping?

Test Everything

TEST EVERYTHING

Or its okay to be a critic but not a fool.

Πάντα δοκιμάζετε Test or examine everything.

The verb Paul uses in Thessalonicians 5.21 is one that means you should be looking for proof and evidence the dokima or marks of genuineness like a metal assayer testing the purity of metals.

Paul also advises Timothy and Titus not to allow their congregations to be caught up in endless vain discussions of myths genealogies and speculations that lead to foolish strife quarrels and controversies. Note that he does not ban speculation or discussion but he wants it to be instructive not divisive or destructive. Note also he's talking about church doctrines not practical science.

Πάντα δοκιμάζετε Test or examine everything.

A good motto for a scholar whatever their beliefs?

Feigned and Acted the adjective Anupokritees

Greek has an adjective ἀνυπόκριτος that has been translated as unfeigned or genuine.

If this word was translated literally it might be unactorly or not dramatically or by a phrase not like a stage performer or actor or even unmasked since actors and performers in Greek and Roman Dramas wore masks.

Here's a quote that includes that word.

Romans 12:9 ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος

Let love be genuine or in some older versions unfeigned is used.

Love Agape must be an sincere action not an act.

This word is also used again in 2 Corinthians 6.6

Titanic Names

A speculative  look at the names of some of the Titans.

Maia mother of Hermes.

Possibly a local Arcadian form of the great mother goddess as her name has several meanings, mother, midwife, good mother, dame, lady,

Themis T aspirated emis  possibly connected to the verb Titheemi?

Iapetus the only similar greek word is the Verb Iaptoo

Leto is Leetoo in Attic Ionic but Laatoo in Doric.

Graves links this toa Semitic goddess but another overlooked possiblity is the obscure verb law meaning Watch. Leto as the goddess who watches?

Koios The Ionic dialect has a verb Koeoo that has the same meaning as Noeoo so Koios may have been the Mindful One?

His Consort Phoibee Yes its aspirate p in greek not Fibee! The radiant one.

Hyperion father of the Sun Moon and Dawn Overlord ?

Kreios Kreion Lord master

Names have meanings but the meanings of these names predate the Olympian gods and it may well that given how words can change of the centuries that the names meant something different thousands of years ago.

Probably about 3500 years ago or older since some people think the myths about  Battle of the Titans or the gods fleeing Typhon reflect dim memories of the eruption of Thera?  Did religion in Greece change after Thera's eruption?

Something to to think about and google the concept of earthstorms?

Macro Long

Macro Long.

We use macro in english with a meaning of greater and larger but in Greek it means LONG, a length in time or space. It has other meanings of tall lofty far distant

Nominative Μακρός μακρά μακρόν

Accusative μακρόν μακράν μακρόν

Genitive μακροῦ μακρᾶς μακροῦ

Dative μακρῷ μακρᾷ μακρῷ  

Welcome to the third declension

Welcome to the Third Declension!

There are many nouns of masculine feminine and neuter gender that have this pattern.

Nominative a contracted form in the singular

A Plural – as ending

Accusative stem + α Plural – ας

Genitive + ος Plural ων

Dative + ι Plural σι(ν)

Nouns that end in – μα like Charisma Drama Dogma and Gramma are declined as

γραμμα γραμματα γραμματος γραμματων γραμματι γραμμασι

More Third Declension Examples soon.

Theta Words Four

Theta Words Four

θρᾶνος bench but so also is θρῆνυς.

θρίδαξ - ακος Lettuce

θρῖναξ - ακος is a trident a spear or fork with three points or prongs

Words beginning with τ often changed to θ.

Remember θ was pronounced /t ^h/ in Classical Greek.

Θρόνος was not just a bench but a chair or throne.

θυγάτηρ daughter. A θυγατριδῆ was a grand-daughter, daughter of a daughter, a θυγατριδοῦς a maternal grandson, and a θυγάτριον a ittle daughter or small girl.

θῡμός is smoke soul breath life passion energy but θύμος is the herb THYME.

Θύννος Tunny Tuna the fsh that rushes Θύνω

Θύω had two meanings or perhaps was two separate verbs that contracted to have the same sound?

The first meaning was to offer or sacrifice to the gods. Remember that meat offerings were usually burnt and cooked with the gods consuming the energy the fumes rising to the skies and humans picnicking on the rest.

The second meaning was to rush dart or race along like a school of fish or a storm through the skies.

Kosmos the Ordered World

KOSMOS THE ORDERED WORLD

Chaos and Cosmos are two excellent examples of ancient Greek words that have changed meanings over the centuries in both Greek and English usage.

We think of Chaos and Order as being opposites but its more that one comes forth from the other.

Κόσμος has several meaning Order Good order and hence government also mode or fashion and ornamament or decoration and world or universe.

While when we hear the words Cosmos and cosmic we think often of outer space to a Greek κοσμικός meant earthly or worldly.

Cosmos is reality arranged or ordered into beauty.

Note these related verbs κομέω and κομάω the first meaning to take care of or tend and the second to wear or arrange long hair on a human or a horse. In the preclassical period both men and women especially aristocrats arranged their long hair into elaborate curls and plaits and braids and mixture of both.

Chaos the great opening or space (see my previous post) becomes an ordered place the Cosmos.

KHAOS AND CREATION

KHAOS AND CREATION

K^haos is how Χάος was pronounced by the ancientGreeks.

The letter Χ “Chi” was an aspirated / k^{h /.}

We tend to think of Chaos as the opposite to order but the actual word originally meant a wide open open or a wide opening and SPACE might be a more accurate translation.

How do scholars know this?

For those of you who don't have access or ownership of the Lidell online or in print here's some words to consider as proof.

Χάσμα a chasm or gulf then these verbs Χάσκω Χασκάζω Χαίνω open wide gape yawn.

Hesiod in his Theogony wrote first (πρώτιστα ) Chaos came into being γένετ̓ (Line 116) next Gaia widebreasted and her siblings Erebos and Night (123)n Heaven and the Mountains and Ocean and the Titans and much more.

Notice how Hesiod uses geneto not poieo become be born not made.

The world comes into being by change in the earliest Greek myths though later versions such as that in Ovid's metamorphoses means a possible creator. There's a process from a primordial unity into complexity and multiplicity from oneness to many.

You might want to read the beginning of Ovid's metamorphoses and contrast the two.

Hesiod's version judging from authors philosophers and poets between his time and that of Ovid's wasn't the ONLY version known to the Greeks. Mythmaking was an active process. Stories change.

The opposite of Chaos is Cosmos the Ordered arranged world but that's another story!

deiknumi

δείκνῡμι

is used for text book paradigms of - νῡμι verbs

δείκνῡμι and other νῡμι verbs have the following inflections

for Active Present Indicative

Singular δείκνῡμι δείκνῡς δείκνῡσι

Dual δείκνυτον

Plural δείκνυμεν δείκνυτε δείκνύᾱσι

For Imperfect you add ῡν ῡς ῡ υτον etc to ἐδείκν

For Subjunctive take a stem of δεικνύ and add the normal endings

Likewise for Optative

Goodwin's Grammar and other works show all the forms.

The main thing to remember is the u final and to watch how the accents shift

The Infinitive is δεικνύναι and the Participle δεικνύς

In Aorist δείκνῡμι has a First Aorist stem of δείξ and a Second Aorist stem of δύ

The Future stem is δείξ the Perfect δέδειχ and the Pluperfect ἐδεδείχ

H and a short E sound

HE ἑ Ἑ ἓ Ἓ ἕ Ἕ

Some Words beginning with he 

ἑαυτοῦ of him or ἑαυτῆς herself reflexive pronoun

εἷς and ἕν masculine and neuter forms of the word for ONE heis hen

ἕκαστος – η - ον each

ἕκάτερος each of two both in plural

ἑκατόν One HUNDRED Hecato -

Ἑλλάς Hellas Greece see my previous post on this topic!

Ἕξ - Hex - SIX

ἑορτή festival or holiday

ἕπομαι follow

ἑπτά Hepta - SEVEN

HEE

ἡ ἣ ἥ ἧ Ἡ Ἣ Ἥ Ἧ

Some Greek words starting with H and a long E ἡ

In personal Names

Ἥβη Youth the goddess of Hebe the maiden cupbearer of the gods.

Ἥρα Hera the Queen of the Gods

Ἡρακλέης Ἡρακλῆς Heracles in Latin Hercules

Ἡσίοδος Hesiod the Poet

Ἥλιος The Titan God of the Sun

ἡ Feminine form of the definite article THE female

ἡγέομαι a verb I go before lead guide command

ἡδύς ἡδεῖα ἡδύ pleasure pleasant sweet

ἥκω I have come or reached I am here

ἡμεῖς pronoun We

ἡμέρα day

ἡμι – Prefix Half Hemi in English. Adjective ἥμισυς

ἥρωΐνη Heroine

ἡσυχία stillness quiet calm rest ἡ ἡ

LEGO NOT THE TOY!

LEGO NOT THE TOY

One of the most common Classical Greek Verbs is

λέγω

 I say tell ask talk

Here is the PRESENT INDICATIVE ACTIVE.

(Present is the Tense Indicative the Mode and Active the Voice)

λέγω λέγεις λέγει λέγομεν λέγετε λέγουσι(ν)

I say You say He or she says We say You plural say They say.

The final n is used if the the next word starts with a or at the end of a sentence.

You will also see a movable n after any third person verb form ending with a ε.

Note the endings or suffixes.

- ω - εις - ει - ομεν - ετε - ουσι(ν)

Let's look at these verbs arranged another way

SINGULAR First Second Third person

  I - ω                      λέγω

   You - εις               λέγεις

She or he or it - ει  λέγει

Plural First Second Third person

We - ομεν     λέγομεν

You - ετε   λέγετε

They - ουσι(ν)  λέγουσι(ν)

If you're a beginning student copy those suffixes and make a note for memorisation

- ω - εις - ει - ομεν - ετε - ουσι(ν)

AHA Hidden H's

AHA! Watching out for hidden H's.

Classical Greek did have a H sound ...well the last traces of one indicated by a ̔ over a vowel.

If a word has an initial HA sound you will see ἁ ἅ ἇ

Here's some words with an initial HA sound.

Ἁβρός Habros soft delicate pretty dainty luxurious

ἁγιάζω to hallow consecrate make holy

ἅιδης Hades the place and the god of

αἷμα Haemo - Blood

αἱρέω to chose

ἅλς Salt the sea

the two sea goddess Thetis and Amphitrite are called sea-born

ἁλοσύδνη

ἅμα an adverb hama At Once or a Preposition with Dative at the same time (together) with

ἁμαρτάνω to miss fail go wrong err sin

ἅρμα chariot

ἁρπάζω ravish snatch seize take away carry off by force

In the Beginning ARCHE

In John's Gospel in the beginning was the word.

This simple passage may be Post Classical but still is a classic in several ways.

And a useful teaching example and aid?

In Latin the Gospel of John begins with

In principio verbum erat

Here's Verses 1 – 5 which include a good variety of simple verb and noun forms.

1. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

2. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

3. πάντα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν. ὃ γέγονεν.

4. ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

5. καὶ τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

Here's a list of some of the words used and some questions to use for further study and revision.

ἐν Note how this is used with the dative ἀρχῇ.

ἦν equals erat and both mean ...

ὁ λόγος the word is a Second Declension noun along with which other words?

καὶ the most common conjunction and the others are …?

πρὸς is used with the object τὸν θεόν why accusative? how does this change the meaning?

ἐγένετο and γέγονεν are both forms of which verb?

ὁ and ὃ that one different accent changes the meaning ho and hò mean ?

ἡ ζωὴ is a First Declension Feminine Noun. Name the other two nouns of this type used.

My next post will about about ARKHEE arche