[b-greek] EPIGNWSIS v. GNWSIS and Emphatic EPI-

From: Wes Williams (WesWilliams@usa.net)
Date: Sat Jul 07 2001 - 01:02:21 EDT


The last discussion I found on GNWSIS v. EPIGNWSIS was in Oct, 1995 and I
include it below for reference. I agree with Carl's comments but I would
like more information on the role of the EPI- prefix during the Koine
period.

In Matt 11:27 the contrast is with "hidden" knowledge (11:25) and so the
sense of EPIGINWSKW suggests "full" or "complete" knowledge.

Whereas when Paul (Pauline authorship issues aside) contrasts EPIGNWSIS/
EPIGINWSKW with "truth" the sense of _accurate_ knowledge comes forth. For
example, 2 Timothy 3:7 "always learning and yet never able to come to an
_accurate knowledge_ of truth."

I know that some prefixed prepositions were losing their emphatic purpose
during Koine but my sense is that EPI has not at this time. How true of
the EPI- prefix is this at the point in time of the first century?

Comments are welcome on the above examples.

Sincerely,
Wes Williams

From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
Date: Sun, 15 Oct 1995 15:29:58 -0500
Subject: Re: need help

At 2:21 PM 10/15/95, Paul Watkins wrote:

>3. What is the difference between "gnwsis" and "epignwsis"? Are they
different
>types of knowledge or is the latter simply a richer form of the former?

This is going to depend on the context in which the words are being used.
EPIGNWSIS may mean "recognition," "acknowledgement," "familiarity," or
"knowledge." GNWSIS may mean "knowledge," but in 1 Cor it tends to have
the
sense "mystical knowledge" of a sort that seems to depend upon an intimate
communion between believer and God (and Paul seems to imply that it
isolates one believer from others, whereas Paul seems normally to view a
believer's relationship to God through Christ not as strictly
private/personal but as also having a corporate dimension bonding the
believer with other believers. In 1 Cor GNWSIS is often set off
pejoratively in antithesis to AGAPH. I think GNWSIS is also negative in 1
Cor 13, but there may be some places where it does not have this mystical
and negative connotation. Certainly it could be used in as many different
ways as the verb GINWSKW, and it would be worth your while to study these
words in an unabridged lexicon of classical Greek as well as in BAGD.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/




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