Variations of Vocabulary

How do I work out the meaning of a Greek text? How can I best understand the forms and vocabulary in this particular text?
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mrunion28
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Joined: March 28th, 2018, 1:18 pm

Variations of Vocabulary

Post by mrunion28 »

I have been studying 1 Corinthians 1 for a while (specifically v.26-31). I have been baffled by the alternate use of the word "Moros" (μωρός) in simple translations but the variant "Mora" (μωρά) is sometimes used. Is there a significance to this? If so, what is it? What is the difference between the root and the variant? I am a very new student so please pardon my ignorance... I am simply anxious to learn!
Stirling Bartholomew
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Joined: August 9th, 2012, 4:19 pm

Re: Variations of Vocabulary

Post by Stirling Bartholomew »

mrunion28 wrote: March 28th, 2018, 1:23 pm I have been studying 1 Corinthians 1 for a while (specifically v.26-31). I have been baffled by the alternate use of the word "Moros" (μωρός) in simple translations but the variant "Mora" (μωρά) is sometimes used. Is there a significance to this? If so, what is it? What is the difference between the root and the variant? I am a very new student so please pardon my ignorance... I am simply anxious to learn!
Greek is an inflected language. The nouns and adjectives have various endings that indicate gender, case, and number.

Neuter nominative & accusative cases share the same form.

τὸ μωρὸν adj nom/acc neuter singular
τὰ μωρ adj nom/acc neuter plural
C. Stirling Bartholomew
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: Variations of Vocabulary

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Just to follow up on Stirling's response, "inflection" means that the form of the word changes in order to express it's grammatical/syntactical relationship to the rest of the sentence. Nouns, adjectives and verbs do this in Greek (prepositions, particles, adverbs and conjunctions do not). You might want to start with a beginning grammar and begin working through it to get the sense of how the language works (which is quite different from English).
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.
Shirley Rollinson
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Re: Variations of Vocabulary

Post by Shirley Rollinson »

mrunion28 wrote: March 28th, 2018, 1:23 pm I have been studying 1 Corinthians 1 for a while (specifically v.26-31). I have been baffled by the alternate use of the word "Moros" (μωρός) in simple translations but the variant "Mora" (μωρά) is sometimes used. Is there a significance to this? If so, what is it? What is the difference between the root and the variant? I am a very new student so please pardon my ignorance... I am simply anxious to learn!
μωρός is an adjective - if it is describing a noun which is grammatically masculine, it will use a masculine set of endings (depending on whether the noun is the subject of the sentence (Nominative, -ος), or the object (Accusative, -ον), or an indirect object (Dative, - to, for, by, with, from, in, -ῳ) or a Genitive, -ου. And there are endings to go with plurals, and another set to go with nouns which are grammatically neuter, and another set to go with nouns which are grammatically feminine. It sounds intimidating, but it isn't really - and they give information on how things fit together in a sentence.
So μωρός should be linked to a noun which is grammatically masculine and Nominative singular.
τα μωρα is a neuter plural, either nominative or accusative, so implies "things" rather than people. Similarly το μωρον (1 Cor. 1:25) is neuter singular, either nominative or accusative, so implies just one "thing" rather than a person.
If you'd like to delve into Greek a bit more deeply, you're welcome to try the online Greek textbook, starting at
http://www.drshirley.org/greek/textbook02/contents.html
I hope this helps,
Shirley Rollinson
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