On Sat 13 Apr 2002 (15:39:49), talmid512@cs.com wrote: > If so then I can understand why the term is rendered "brotherly love". > Any thoughts? > My thought is that in Greek, Latin and many languages, abstract nouns are of feminine grammatical gender, regardless of sexual gender connotations. FILADELFIA is rendered "brotherly love", because in the ancient Near East it was a Patriarchal society, not a Matriarchal society. And as far as the early Church is concerned, all Christian Elders were male, as were all the Apostles: "brothers in Christ". The generic term "Brothers" includes "sisters" unless specifically mentioned otherwise. Compare the German term "Geschwister" which looks like "Schwester" (sister) but means Siblings: "brothers-and-sisters" (either/or, or both). ADELFOS = brother; ADELFH = sister; ADELFIA = Brotherhood/Sisterhood. ERRWSQE Ben -- Revd Ben Crick BA CF, and Mrs Joanna (Goodwin) Crick 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm --- 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