απτω

Semantic Range, Lexicography, and other approaches to word meaning - in general, or for particular words.
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PhillipLebsack
Posts: 83
Joined: January 17th, 2018, 10:31 am

απτω

Post by PhillipLebsack »

I've often seen απτω given as meaning "to fasten to; hence, to fire, kindle...".

The two basic concepts that this word can mean seem to be very different. Is there is a way to understand this culturally? Did the Greeks "fasten" material to something in order to light it, which is why we have the two basic meanings of "touch, hold, fasten to," etc, and "to light, kindle," etc? Or is there another way of understanding this word.
Wes Wood
Posts: 692
Joined: September 20th, 2013, 8:18 pm

Re: απτω

Post by Wes Wood »

PhillipLebsack wrote: November 17th, 2018, 7:50 pm I've often seen απτω given as meaning "to fasten to; hence, to fire, kindle...".

The two basic concepts that this word can mean seem to be very different. Is there is a way to understand this culturally? Did the Greeks "fasten" material to something in order to light it, which is why we have the two basic meanings of "touch, hold, fasten to," etc, and "to light, kindle," etc? Or is there another way of understanding this word.
The ideas don't seem very different to me. If you "touch" fire to flammable things, they will "catch on" fire. The fire will "take hold of" the object. Hope this helps.
Ἀσπάζομαι μὲν καὶ φιλῶ, πείσομαι δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ θεῷ ἢ ὑμῖν.-Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους 29δ
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Re: απτω

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

"Jim runs the town."

"Jim runs a race."

What's the cultural connection between the two? Sometimes we can see a connection between differs parts of the semantic range of a word, sometimes it's harder to see. Just don't do what I heard a youth paster do once when preaching on 1 Cor 7:1, that touching a woman can ignite a fire of passion...
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Paul-Nitz
Posts: 497
Joined: June 1st, 2011, 4:19 am
Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

Re: απτω

Post by Paul-Nitz »

In Koine,
Active Voice is "ignite" or "light"
Middle/Passive is "touch."

According to the search I just did of my Koine corpus (GNT, LXX, Josephus, Philo, pseudepigrapha, Church fathers, etc), there are only 14 hits on ἁπτω in the Active voice, all collocated with something that can be lit, πυρ, λυχνος, incense.

I did not find any hits on ἁπτω with the sense of "fasten."
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
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