[B-Greek] Romans 8:16: SUMMARTUREI TWi PNEUMATI

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Mon Jun 9 17:04:17 EDT 2008


On Jun 9, 2008, at 11:50 AM, Edgar Foster wrote:

> Wallace is arguing that the SUN prefix strengthens or
> intensifies the thought behind the verb without
> stressing the "co-witnessing" aspect of SUMMARTUREW.
>
> Wallace's exact words are "In sum, I have found
> SUMMARTUREW predominantly to take dative indirect
> objects rather than datives of association. BDAG's
> statement that 'the prefix SUN– [on this verb] has
> in the highest degree the effect of strengthening' the
> force of the verb is largely vindicated.


LSJ has "bear witness with or in support of another" which is  
semantically more inclusive than co-witness. One example cited by LSJ  
which was not used in this article is from Thucydides 8.51

... αἱ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Ἀλκιβιάδου  
ἐπιστολαὶ οὐ πολὺ 4 ὕστερον ἧκον  
ὅτι προδίδοταί τε τὸ στράτευμα ὑπὸ  
Φρυνίχου καὶ οἱ πολέμιοι μέλλουσιν  
ἐπιθήσεσθαι. δόξας δὲ ὁ Ἀλκιβιάδης  
οὐ πιστὸς εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἀπὸ τῶν  
πολεμίων προειδὼς 3 τῷ Φρυνίχῳ ὡς  
ξυνειδότι κατ’ ἔχθραν ἀνατιθέναι,  
οὐδὲν 4 ἔβλαψεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ  
ξυνεμαρτύρησε μᾶλλον ταὐτὰ 5  
ἐσαγγείλας.

... hAI DE PARA TOU ALKIBIADOU EPISTOLAI OU POLU 4 hUSTERON hHKON hOTI  
PRODIDOTAI TE TO STRATEUMA hUPO FRUNICOU KAI hOI POLEMIOI MELLOUSIN  
EPIQHSESQAI. DOXAS DE hO ALKIBIADHS OU PISTOS EINAI, ALLA TA APO TWN  
POLEMIWN PROEIDWS 3 TWi FRUNICWi hWS XUNEIDOTI KAT ECQRAN ANATIQENAI,  
OUDEN 4 EBLAYEN AUTON, ALLA KAI XUNEMARTURHSE MALLON TAUTA 5 ESAGGEILAS.

Not long afterwards came the letter from Alcibiades, saying that the  
army was betrayed by Phrynichus, and the enemy about to attack it. [3]  
Alcibiades, however, gained no credit, it being thought that he was in  
the secret of the enemy's designs, and had tried to fasten them upon  
Phrynichus, and to make out that he was their accomplice, out of  
hatred; and consequently far from hurting him he rather bore witness  
to what he had said by this intelligence.

The Peloponnesian War. London, J. M. Dent; New York, E. P. Dutton. 1910.

It appears that XUNEMARTURHSE, appearing here without a dative, can be  
understood here as "bear witness in support of another".

Elizabeth Kline







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