γεμην

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Andrew Chapman
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γεμην

Post by Andrew Chapman »

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
Stephen Carlson
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Re: γεμην

Post by Stephen Carlson »

I'm pretty sure that γεμήν is simply an editorial choice to write the particles γε μήν as one word.

I can only guess where the "generating" comes from. Perhaps γεμην was misread as γεννην and reinterpreted as γεννᾶν, which does mean "generating." But who knows?

It would help if the Greek was properly accented, because, right now, it's not clear that the text is coming from a properly edited edition of Cyril, rather than, e.g., from polemical literature on the web. Unfortunately, this work of Cyril's is not on TLG, so I cannot check it myself during my lunch hour. (This passage of Cyril's is often quoted in connection with the "Biblical headship" debate, so let us be careful and mindful of this forum's focus on the Greek text.)
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Andrew Chapman
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Re: γεμην

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Stephen, I have put the two versions online at http://theriveroflife.com/wp-content/pl ... -Migne.pdf (Migne, para Ε, line 14) and http://theriveroflife.com/wp-content/pl ... -Pusey.pdf (Pusey, line 8 of second page) - hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your help with this, and the suggestion about γεννην. I am sorry, I once learned from Wenham to content myself with the rough and smooth breathings plus iota subscripts, perhaps that was wrong..

Andrew
Stephen Carlson
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Re: γεμην

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Andrew Chapman wrote:Stephen, I have put the two versions online at http://theriveroflife.com/wp-content/pl ... -Migne.pdf (Migne, para Ε, line 14) and http://theriveroflife.com/wp-content/pl ... -Pusey.pdf (Pusey, line 8 of second page) - hope this helps.

Thank you very much for your help with this, and the suggestion about γεννην. I am sorry, I once learned from Wenham to content myself with the rough and smooth breathings plus iota subscripts, perhaps that was wrong.
Thanks for the PDFs. Well, the accentuation tells us how the editors have understood the text; that\s why it\s important. At any rate, both editions seem to me to have understood them as particles, with Pusey writting them as one word.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
Melbourne, Australia
Andrew Chapman
Posts: 265
Joined: February 5th, 2013, 5:04 am
Location: Oxford, England
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Re: γεμην

Post by Andrew Chapman »

Thanks, Stephen, much appreciated.
Andrew
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