Evan Blackmore wrote:Here I very much doubt whether ἐν τῇ Νεκυίᾳ could be read as "with regard to the Nekuia" (Orion, not the Nekuia, is the topic in the spotlight).
LSJ gives one sense of νέκυια as "name for the eleventh Book of the Odyssey, D.S.4.39, Plu. 2.740e." I see this usage as comparable where the object of ἐν names the writing that contains the passage. This works with most of the examples that BDAG cited under sense 1. To make ἐν Ἠλίᾳ fit the sense, however, Danker has to reformulate it by supplying the words "in the passage of".
Evan Blackmore wrote:But of course it's useless looking for any passage where ἐν can be construed in one and only one way. This whole thread beautifully illustrates Moulton's famous remark about ἐν being the "maid of all work" of the NT.
Yes, indeed. The issue is where the object does not name a book and the usage appears to be somewhat intermediate between senses 1 and 8. How finely lexicographers subdivide the senses is one of those lumpers-vs.-splitters issues that probably cannot be resolved by objective evidence. At any rate, I do find the proposed senses of "about" and "to" to be not as suitable as either "(contained) in (the writing of)" or "in the case of"/"regarding".
