Greek collective term for dependent children

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DanielBuck
Posts: 12
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:24 pm

Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by DanielBuck »

In my recent reading of Liddell, I ran across a word for dependent children, but lost the file I'd saved it in. As I recall, it isn't from a root that is usually associated with human offspring. It isn't found in the GNT, but I think it may be in the Breton LXX. I don't know how to find it again, short of some excellent input from the scholars on this forum.
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by Stephen Hughes »

DanielBuck wrote:In my recent reading of Liddell, I ran across a word for dependent children, but lost the file I'd saved it in. As I recall, it isn't from a root that is usually associated with human offspring. It isn't found in the GNT, but I think it may be in the Breton LXX. I don't know how to find it again, short of some excellent input from the scholars on this forum.
Try this search tool http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=1&context=lsj
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
RandallButh
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Joined: May 13th, 2011, 4:01 am

Re: Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by RandallButh »

what kind of dependency?
Were you thinking of τὰ ἔκγονα (descendants)
or παῖς θρεπτή (child being cared for)
or ?
DanielBuck
Posts: 12
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:24 pm

Re: Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by DanielBuck »

I appreciate the hints, but, thank God, I found my original note, and it's none of them. I apologize for leading you all astray in one way; it's a common word in the Scriptures after all. The word is νηπιοσ and as νήπιοι is usually translated infants. In Psalm 8:2 it translates the Hebrew word olim. In Gal. 4:3 the dependent aspect is emphasized.
I rediscovered another word along the way; perhaps this is the one I had in mind as not being in the Scriptures: ἔκγονος. But now that I'm learning to navigate Perseus, I see that it is in 1 Tim 5:4 as ἔκγονα, where in contrast to τέκνα it carries the meaning of grandchildren of either gender. There certainly are a lot of terms for children in Greek.
Well, this is the sort of question one must expect in the beginner's forum, from someone with just enough learning to be dangerous.
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

From BDAG:

νήπιος, ία, ιον (Hom.+; ins, pap, LXX, En; TestSol 18:25 L; Test12Patr; JosAs 12:7 cod. A; ApcEsdr 5:3 p. 29, 27 Tdf.; SibOr; Philo, Joseph.; Ar. 10, 7; Tat. 30, 1; Ath., R. 17 p. 68, 31) in Gk. lit. ν. gener. refers to beings ranging from fetal status to puberty. In our lit.
① a very young child, infant, child
ⓐ lit. (ViDa 1 [p. 76, 13 Sch.]; Jos., Ant. 6, 262; Ar. [Milne 76, 40] ἐὰν δὲ νήπιον ἐξέλθῃ; Orig., C. Cels. 3, 48, 26 ἀμαθὴς καὶ ἀνόητος καὶ ἀπαίδευτος καὶ ν.; Theoph. Ant. 2, 25 [p. 160, 6] Ἀδὰμ ἔτη ν. ἦν) ὡς ν. βρέφη like veritable babes Hs 9, 29, 1. Usu. subst. child sing. 1 Cor 13:11abcd (for ν. opp. ἀνήρ Orig., C. Cels. 3, 59, 23); τὰ τοῦ ν. childish ways vs. 11e. Pl. τὰ ν. (sc. βρέφη) Hm 2:1; Hs 9, 29, 1. The gen. pl. of the neut. is prob. to be understood Mt 21:16 (Ps 8:3; s. JGeorgacas, ClPl 76, ’58, 155).
fig.; the transition to the fig. sense is found Hb 5:13 where the νήπιος, who is fed w. the milk of elementary teaching, is contrasted w. the τέλειος=‘mature person’, who can take the solid food of the main teachings (s. also 1 Cor 3:1f). In this connection the ν. is one who views spiritual things fr. the standpoint of a child. W. this can be contrasted
α. the state of the more advanced Christian, to which the ν. may aspire (Ps 118:130; Philo, Migr. Abr. 46; Iren. 4, 38, 1 [Harv. II 293, 2]) ITr 5:1. ἵνα μηκέτι ὦμεν νήπιοι Eph 4:14. A Judean as διδάσκαλος νηπίων Ro 2:20. νήπιος ἐν Χριστῷ immature Christian 1 Cor 3:1 (cp. ὡς νηπίοις, ὁ ἄρτος ὁ τέλειος τοῦ πατρὸς, γάλα ἡμῖν ἑαυτὸν παρέσχεν [on the accent s. Schwyzer I 391] ‘seeing that we were but infants, the perfect bread [=the Son of God] of the Father gave himself as milk to us’ Iren. 4, 38, 1 [Harv. II 293, 8]; JWeiss, Paulin. Probleme: Die Formel ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, StKr 69, 1896, 1–33). Harnack, Die Terminologie d. Wiedergeburt: TU XLII 3, 1918, 97ff.
β. The contrast can also be w. the ideas expressed by σοφός, συνετός, and then the νήπιοι are the child-like, innocent ones, unspoiled by learning, with whom God is pleased Mt 11:25; Lk 10:21 (GKilpatrick, JTS 48, ’47, 63f; WGrundmann, NTS 5, ’58/’59, 188–205; SLégasse, Jésus et l’enfant [synopt.], ’69). Cp. also 1 Cl 57:7 (Pr 1:32).
② one who is not yet of legal age, minor, not yet of age, legal t.t. (UPZ 20, 22 [II b.c.] ἔτι νηπίας οὔσας ὁ πατὴρ ἀπέδωκεν εἰς σύστασιν Πτολεμαίῳ) ἐφʼ ὅσον χρόνον ὁ κληρονόμος ν. ἐστιν as long as the heir is a minor Gal 4:1. Fig. vs. 3.—In 1 Th 2:7 νήπιοι is accepted by Lachmann and W-H., as well as by interpreters fr. Origen to Wohlenberg, Frame, et al.; Goodsp., Probs. 177f. S. also SFowl, NTS 36, ’90, 469–73: the metaphors of infant and nurse are complementary. Others, incl. Tdf., Herm-vSoden, BWeiss, Bornemann, vDobschütz, Dibelius, Steinmann, prefer ἤπιοι (v.l.), and regard the ν of νήπιοι as the result of dittography fr. the preceding word ἐγενήθημεν (s. the entry ἤπιος). MLacroix, Ηπιος/Νηπιος: Mélanges Desrousseaux ’37, 260–72.; B. 92.—New Docs 1, 116; 4, 40. DELG. M-M. TW. Sv.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
cwconrad
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Re: Greek collective term for dependent children

Post by cwconrad »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:From BDAG:

νήπιος, ία, ιον (Hom.+; ins, pap, LXX, En; TestSol 18:25 L; Test12Patr; JosAs 12:7 cod. A; ApcEsdr 5:3 p. 29, 27 Tdf.; SibOr; Philo, Joseph.; Ar. 10, 7; Tat. 30, 1; Ath., R. 17 p. 68, 31) in Gk. lit. ν. gener. refers to beings ranging from fetal status to puberty. In our lit.
① a very young child, infant, child
...
fig.; the transition to the fig. sense is found Hb 5:13 where the νήπιος, who is fed w. the milk of elementary teaching, is contrasted w. the τέλειος=‘mature person’, who can take the solid food of the main teachings (s. also 1 Cor 3:1f). In this connection the ν. is one who views spiritual things fr. the standpoint of a child. ...
For me the figurative sense of νήπιος was first driven home by the powerful phrasing of the proem of the Odyssey, where the narrator characterizes the shipmates of Odysseus and the doom they brought upon themselves:
Iliad 1.4-9 wrote: πολλὰ δʼ ὅ γʼ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα ὃν κατὰ θυμόν,
[5] ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων.
ἀλλʼ οὐδʼ ὣς ἑτάρους ἐρρύσατο, ἱέμενός περ·
αὐτῶν γὰρ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο,
νήπιοι,
οἳ κατὰ βοῦς Ὑπερίονος Ἠελίοιο
ἤσθιον· αὐτὰρ ὁ τοῖσιν ἀφείλετο νόστιμον ἦμαρ.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
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