προείρηκα in 2 Corinthians 7:3

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jeff.west.usa
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Joined: March 13th, 2018, 12:58 pm

προείρηκα in 2 Corinthians 7:3

Post by jeff.west.usa »

Different Greek helps seem to have divergent explanations. προείρηκα (Per Act Ind 1st Sing) in 2 Cor 7:3 is translated "I have said before." The problem I have encountered, and that raised questions to improve my understanding, is that some sources declare the root as being (προερέω - proereō) while Sakae Kubo has it being rooted in (προείπον - proeipon). One is suggests that the second part of the compound verb is (ερέω - ereō) while the other is (λέγω - legō).

My questions are: 1) "Which one is correct? and 2) What is the difference between ereō and legō?

Every Greek student can parse lego, but I was not as familiar with ereo. Any insights anyone? Thanks.
Barry Hofstetter
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Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: προείρηκα in 2 Corinthians 7:3

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Believe it or not, they are all right. By the time of the NT, the various tenses are being supplied by more than one root, most often by λέγω in the present, ἐρῶ in the future, and εἶπον for the aorist. The perfect προείρηκα is from the same root as ἐρῶ, but there is no extant present for that verb, so most lexicons list it under λέγω.
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.
Jonathan Robie
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Re: προείρηκα in 2 Corinthians 7:3

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Let me separate two questions.

(1) What is this verb?

προ·ειρη·κα (perfect) is the same verb as προ·λεγ·ω (present) and προ·ειπ·ον (aorist).

Each one starts with the prefix προ, meaning "beforehand" in this case. English has some verbs that have different roots - e.g. is, was, to be - and Greek has a lot more of them. This is one such verb, and the stems reflect the tense - the perfect stem, present stem, and aorist stem respectively. The endings also reflect the tense - the first person active indicative singular ending for perfect, present, and aorist respectively.

Eventually you will get around to learning the "principle parts", which contain the verb stems you need to know to identify a given verb in all tenses.

With me so far?

(2) What is a lemma?

You need a way to refer to the verb in all of these forms so that you can do things like look up a verb in the dictionary. There's more than one system. If you use different resources that use different systems it can get confusing. The fact that this is confusing is not your fault, and James Strong is behind some of the confusion you are now seeing.

As Barry says, λέγω is the lemma you would use to find this verb in most lexicons.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
jeff.west.usa
Posts: 2
Joined: March 13th, 2018, 12:58 pm

Re: προείρηκα in 2 Corinthians 7:3

Post by jeff.west.usa »

Thanks Barry and Jonathan. Your responses were very helpful. It is good to know that I am not losing my mind.
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