- (1) In Matthew 17:20 (RP) Ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς, Διὰ τὴν ἀπιστίαν ὑμῶν. Where ἀπιστία is meant in the sense of ὀλιγοπιστία (littleness of faith) it is rendered as such in a some manuscripts, but not all, suggesting that ἀπιστία may not always be meant to convey so totally negative a meaning.
(2) In the Modern Greek lexica, the alpha-privative does not convey so clear cut an absence of <such and so>. For this exemplar, let me render ἀπιστία from Triandafyllidis into Koine spelling and accents and Imperial Koine restored pronunciation, and just listing the sense that occurs in the NT, ἀπιστία would be something like;- ἀπιστία, ἡ [apistía], ἡ ἔλλειψις πίστεως (the shortfall of faith)
- ἔλλειψις, ἡ [élipsēs] τὸ μὴ ὑπάρχειν (to not exist), καθ' ὁλοκληρίαν ἢ ἐν μέρει (entirely or in part), τί ἀναγκαίον (anything/something neccessary)
ἀπιστία (the range of sense of the alpha privative)
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ἀπιστία (the range of sense of the alpha privative)
The alpha privative (ἄλφα στερητικόν) in (for an example to begin this thread) ἀπιστία (unbelief), seems to be handled in a fairly cut and dry way as having the sense "without faith", "unbelief" - something like an on/off switch. I've been wondering about the sense of alpha-privatives these days, wondering whether they really imply the total absence of <such and so>, or just a reduced (noticeably lacking) ammount of it? For the exemplar ἀπιστία, I have been thinking about 2 things:
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Re: ἀπιστία (the range of sense of the alpha privative)
I haven't looked through these, but I managed to compile a list of Alpha Privative uses in NT, by searching Zerwick:
Matthew 3:12, 8:17, 10:8, 12:36, 14:14, 26:2, 17, Mark 6:5, 14:1, 16:18, Luke 1:4, 3:17, 4:40, 5:15, 7:30, 8:2, 9:2, 10:9, 11:40, 12:20, 13:11, 15:13, 21:9, 24:25, John 4:46, 6:2, 8:7, 11:1, 19:23, Acts 2:36, 4:9, 5:23, 9:37, 12:3, 16:23, 20:6, 21:34, 24:16, 25:26, 26:19, 28:9, Romans 1:31, 2:23, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 11:30, Ephesians 5:17, Philippians 1:10, 3:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 1 Timothy 1:9, 2 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:6
Compounds of ἐν are largely found as antithetic to those in ἀ- privative, which have the meaning without … (lit. having no …). So ἄνομος without law is opposed to ἔννομοβ under law in 1 Co 9:21, ἄτιμος without honour to ἔνδοξος with glory in 1 Co 4:10 (ἔντιμος elsewhere).
A number of these verbs in -έω were formed from noun compounds having ἀ- privative or εὐ- as a prefix. In addition to those given above, we find in the NT ἀγνοέω (<*α-γνοο-ς, <*γνα-ϝο-ς, cf. Lat. cognitus, <*-gna-to-s, see Brugmann Grd. i. 203; but see above, § 106, p. 281), ἀδικέω (as in class. Gr. both intrans. and trans., whereas † ἐκδικέω (<°κος) is only used transitively…. Ἀκαιρέω (Diod. † -έομαι, N.T. ἁ.λ. Phil 4:11, Herm. Sim. ix. 10:5) is a Hellenistic derivative from the class. ἄκαιρος, opposed to † εὐκαιρέω, which is a good Κοινή word (Polyb., Plut., papp)….. ἀπιστέω, † ἀστατέω and ἀτακτέω. † Εὐαρεστέω is used by Hellenistic writers alone (so °τος can be quoted from inscrr. and papp. in addition to the “bibl. and eccl.” citations. Vocab. s.v.). Εὐνοέω (§ 107, p. 287).
Matthew 3:12, 8:17, 10:8, 12:36, 14:14, 26:2, 17, Mark 6:5, 14:1, 16:18, Luke 1:4, 3:17, 4:40, 5:15, 7:30, 8:2, 9:2, 10:9, 11:40, 12:20, 13:11, 15:13, 21:9, 24:25, John 4:46, 6:2, 8:7, 11:1, 19:23, Acts 2:36, 4:9, 5:23, 9:37, 12:3, 16:23, 20:6, 21:34, 24:16, 25:26, 26:19, 28:9, Romans 1:31, 2:23, 1 Corinthians 10:32, 11:30, Ephesians 5:17, Philippians 1:10, 3:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, 1 Timothy 1:9, 2 Timothy 3:3, Titus 1:6
- [Taken from references to alpha-privative in Zerwick, M., & Grosvenor, M. (1974). A grammatical analysis of the Greek New Testament (p. 516). Rome: Biblical Institute Press.]
Compounds of ἐν are largely found as antithetic to those in ἀ- privative, which have the meaning without … (lit. having no …). So ἄνομος without law is opposed to ἔννομοβ under law in 1 Co 9:21, ἄτιμος without honour to ἔνδοξος with glory in 1 Co 4:10 (ἔντιμος elsewhere).
- Moulton, J. H., & Howard, W. F. (1963–). A Grammar of New Testament Greek: Accidence and Word-Formation. (Vol. 2, p. 307). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
A number of these verbs in -έω were formed from noun compounds having ἀ- privative or εὐ- as a prefix. In addition to those given above, we find in the NT ἀγνοέω (<*α-γνοο-ς, <*γνα-ϝο-ς, cf. Lat. cognitus, <*-gna-to-s, see Brugmann Grd. i. 203; but see above, § 106, p. 281), ἀδικέω (as in class. Gr. both intrans. and trans., whereas † ἐκδικέω (<°κος) is only used transitively…. Ἀκαιρέω (Diod. † -έομαι, N.T. ἁ.λ. Phil 4:11, Herm. Sim. ix. 10:5) is a Hellenistic derivative from the class. ἄκαιρος, opposed to † εὐκαιρέω, which is a good Κοινή word (Polyb., Plut., papp)….. ἀπιστέω, † ἀστατέω and ἀτακτέω. † Εὐαρεστέω is used by Hellenistic writers alone (so °τος can be quoted from inscrr. and papp. in addition to the “bibl. and eccl.” citations. Vocab. s.v.). Εὐνοέω (§ 107, p. 287).
- Moulton, J. H., & Howard, W. F. (1963–). A Grammar of New Testament Greek: Accidence and Word-Formation. (Vol. 2, p. 390). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi