Semantic range of καθώς / ὡς

Semantic Range, Lexicography, and other approaches to word meaning - in general, or for particular words.
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Jonathan Robie
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Semantic range of καθώς / ὡς

Post by Jonathan Robie »

I am trying to determine to what extent the semantic ranges of καθώς / ὡς differ.

What clear distinctions can be made?
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
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Barry Hofstetter
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Re: Semantic range of καθώς / ὡς

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

Well, the short answer is that καθώς is used mostly for comparison sorts of statements, and ὡς not only for comparison, but a whole host of other things. Really, the lexicons should be of great help here.
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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Joined: May 5th, 2011, 5:34 pm
Location: Durham, NC
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Re: Semantic range of καθώς / ὡς

Post by Jonathan Robie »

Barry Hofstetter wrote:Well, the short answer is that καθώς is used mostly for comparison sorts of statements, and ὡς not only for comparison, but a whole host of other things. Really, the lexicons should be of great help here.
Thanks - I should have turned to the lexicons first.

I'm not interested in the non-comparison meanings of ὡς here, I'm mostly interested in how the two words differ when used for comparisons.
ἐξίσταντο δὲ πάντες καὶ διηποροῦντο, ἄλλος πρὸς ἄλλον λέγοντες, τί θέλει τοῦτο εἶναι;
http://jonathanrobie.biblicalhumanities.org/
David Lim
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Re: Semantic range of καθώς / ὡς

Post by David Lim »

Jonathan Robie wrote:I'm not interested in the non-comparison meanings of ὡς here, I'm mostly interested in how the two words differ when used for comparisons.
Roughly "ως X" specifies "similarity to X", whereas "καθως" specifies "same as X in some aspect". This explains why it is typically "καθως" that is used with "ουτως" or "ωστε". In cases without negation it is approximately "as" and "just as" respectively. The usual inadequacies of glosses apply. :)
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