On 07 Sep 2001 20:11:44 -0400, Chet Creider wrote: > Some time ago I asked for assistance with determining the meaning of > the preposition in the following phrase from Luke 18:11: > > hO FARISAIOS STAQEIS TAUTA PROS hEAUTON PROSHUCETO > > There was stiff competition for attention because of a question > concerning fonts and no one tried to help. Well,..ummmmm... it WAS about **GREEK** fonts. Seriously, I don't have an answer, but maybe Luke 24:12 offers some insight. Louw & Nida state that APHLQEN PROS hEAUTON (different verb from your question but the same PROS hEAUTON construct) as an idiom meaning "to return to one's place" as in "place of residence." (cf L&N 15.92) Luke 24:12 is the only other case of PROS hEAUTON I could find in the GNT. I wonder if it is too large a step to think of this as "prayed concerning his position in society." We, in English, use the word `place' to signify the two ideas of `place of residence' and `position in society': "I got my self a place in the city, it's not much, but it's home." And, "Well!, guess I know my place around here, now." FWIW, I've taken this as idiomatic. You, of course, need some hard evidence and not just an opinion from someone like me, but if PROS with the accusative generally has the sense of "direction toward" then prayer offered with that type of focus is (at least to my way of thinking) quite close to "This Pharisee prayed to God but was stuck on himself." I would think if the meaning which Jesus meant to convey was a more mundane "prayed to God concerning himself" Jesus would have used a dative. Anyway, if nothing else, I hope that stirs one of the Big Greeks to answer. Or maybe one of the lessor Greeks to offer some evidence they have found. -- Mike Sangrey msangrey@BlueFeltHat.org Landisburg, Pa. "The first one last wins." "A net of highly cohesive details reveals the truth." --- B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [jwrobie@mindspring.com] To unsubscribe, forward this message to leave-b-greek-327Q@franklin.oit.unc.edu To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu