Words translated "Therefore"

Semantic Range, Lexicography, and other approaches to word meaning - in general, or for particular words.
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Michael Wiebe
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Words translated "Therefore"

Post by Michael Wiebe »

I am curious about the several words in Greek that are translated “therefore” (among other renderings). Specifically, I have been studying the book of Hebrews and noted that the writer uses at least five different words (διὸ, ὅθεν, οὖν, τοιγαροῦν) or phrases (διὰ τοῦτο) that are variously translated as “therefore.” I’m looking for a resource that might suggest comparisons of at least some of these. Trench does not. Moulton and Milligan, and BGAD offer help, but no (that I can see) “head to head” discussion of similarities and differences.

For example, are there general differences in the strength of the inference implied by the use of different words? Are there differences in the author’s emphasis? I understand that the context will always affect the usage, and I am working on the process of looking at the context of each occurrence of the words in Hebrews. I thought I would check here to see if there was a way to get a head start on that study.
Michael Wiebe
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James Spinti
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by James Spinti »

You might find Steve Runge's book, Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament helpful. Discourse grammar looks at the connective particles, which is the ones you are asking about. You could also check the archives, as this question comes up about once every year or two. Some of us, generally the classically trained, like Denniston's Greek Particles. Others claim it is too dated (which it probably is, but old habits die hard).

Also, although I haven't checked it, I believe that Siebenthal's grammar discusses these.

Hope that helps,
James
Proofreading and copyediting of ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies monographs
Eeli Kaikkonen
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by Eeli Kaikkonen »

Runge helps you to understand the whole issue in a new way.

Unfortunately Siebenthal doesn't seem to help much, he doesn't do much more than list particles and conjunctions under classes, with glosses.
John Kendall
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by John Kendall »

As far as I'm aware, the most direct answer to Michael's question is found in a paper given by Stephen Levinsohn at various venues around a decade ago. It was previously available on his SIL webpage but has since been published and is now offline. There is an abstract here: https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/60682. A little googling may still find a copy sitting out there somewhere.
Stephen Carlson
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Do we even have strong sense of the distinctions in English between, "therefore," "thus," "hence," and "for this reason"?
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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S Walch
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by S Walch »

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/therefore

No, I would say they are more or less the same thing to most people. Does add for a bit of variety to hearing just "therefore" all the time.
John Kendall
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Re: Words translated "Therefore"

Post by John Kendall »

If anyone's interested, Levinsohn has a similar presentation to the one I mentioned above here: https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/68435.
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