γεμην
Posted: February 5th, 2013, 5:48 am
I was comparing a translation (in 'The Classical concept of 'Head' as 'source', by a Catherine Kroeger) of a section of Cyril of Alexandria's 'De recta Fide as Pulcheriam et Eudociam' with two different versions of the original text and came across the word γεμην which I can't find in the lexicon. In Migne it reads instead γε μην, and so I think that it probably what it is, but Kroeger appears to translate it as 'generating', so I would like to be sure. The original reads:
ἐχει γεμην [γε μην in Migne] κεφαλην αὐτος ὡς φυσει Θεος τον ἐν τοις οὐρανοις Πατερα, γεγεννηται γαρ ἐξ αὐτου κατα φυσιν Θεος ὠν ὁ Λογος. [Pusey, Cyril of Alexandria, De Recta Fide as Pulcheriam et Marinam, p 268]
and Kroeger's translation reads:
Yet he though God by nature, has himself a generating head, the heavenly Father, and he himself, though God according to his nature, yet being the Word, was begotten of Him.
Elsewhere in the same passage she translates κεφαλη simply as 'head', so I don't think she can be translating it as 'generating head' here (even though that is the kind of meaning of κεφαλη she is arguing for in her paper).
If one googles γεμην, one finds several instances of its use in old editions of Xenophon. My Greek isn't good enough to be quite sure, but I think it may be being used as γε μην. For example, Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, Chapter 11, Section 10, reads:
ἠν γεμην κατα τα εὐωνυμα πολεμιοι προσιωσιν..
and the translation in Perseus is:
If again an enemy approaches on the left..
Thanks for your help with this,
Andrew Chapman,
Oxford, England
ἐχει γεμην [γε μην in Migne] κεφαλην αὐτος ὡς φυσει Θεος τον ἐν τοις οὐρανοις Πατερα, γεγεννηται γαρ ἐξ αὐτου κατα φυσιν Θεος ὠν ὁ Λογος. [Pusey, Cyril of Alexandria, De Recta Fide as Pulcheriam et Marinam, p 268]
and Kroeger's translation reads:
Yet he though God by nature, has himself a generating head, the heavenly Father, and he himself, though God according to his nature, yet being the Word, was begotten of Him.
Elsewhere in the same passage she translates κεφαλη simply as 'head', so I don't think she can be translating it as 'generating head' here (even though that is the kind of meaning of κεφαλη she is arguing for in her paper).
If one googles γεμην, one finds several instances of its use in old editions of Xenophon. My Greek isn't good enough to be quite sure, but I think it may be being used as γε μην. For example, Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, Chapter 11, Section 10, reads:
ἠν γεμην κατα τα εὐωνυμα πολεμιοι προσιωσιν..
and the translation in Perseus is:
If again an enemy approaches on the left..
Thanks for your help with this,
Andrew Chapman,
Oxford, England