B-Greek: The Biblical Greek Forum

I'm now teaching through John, starting at the beginning, and I have decided I want to put more emphasis on the little words.

One source of confusion is words that look very similar, e.g. εἰ and εἶ in εἰ σὺ οὐκ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς. So I generated a list of these "minimal pairs", words that differ only by accent that are found in the upcoming chapter. Micheal Palmer and I discussed this, and I will be asking students to read through these verses and use a pencil to mark which of the two words is being used each time that one of them pops up in the examples.

Example:

εἶ εἰ ( εἰμί εἰ )
John.1.21.13 Ὁ προφήτης εἶ σύ;
John.1.25.10 εἰ σὺ οὐκ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐδὲ Ἠλείας οὐδὲ ὁ προφήτης;
John.1.25.11 σὺ οὐκ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς οὐδὲ Ἠλείας οὐδὲ ὁ προφήτης;
John.1.42.11 Σὺ εἶ Σίμων ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωάνου,
John.1.49.5 σὺ εἶ ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ,
John.1.49.11 σὺ Βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ εἶ

Complete list for John 1 attached.

I once gave a quiz with nothing but lookalikes. My students did not enjoy it as much as I did.

Stephen Carlson wrote:I once gave a quiz with nothing but lookalikes. My students did not enjoy it as much as I did.

It's one of those important things we don't usually teach, and it's not covered well in most of the books. It takes a little practice to keep these straight.

For John 1, I found these (which are in the PDF):

• εἶ εἰ ( εἰμί εἰ )
• εἰς εἷς ( εἰς εἷς )
• ἐν ἕν ( ἐν εἷς )
• ὁ ὅ ( ὁ ὅς )
• οἱ οἵ ( ὁ ὅς )
• οὐ οὗ ( οὐ ὅς )

That's missing some obvious ones like ἡ / ἤ that don't occur in this passage. I'll have to see how many other lookalikes I can find. Is there a good reference for this, or should I just generate a list?

Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek has a look-alike list in the appendices. I don't have it handy at the moment, but it might contain a few more.

I've gotten bit a few times by accents that don't match the 'normalized form' (e.g. when τις gets accented because of sentence context), so it might be useful to mention a few of those examples as well.

Emma Ehrhardt wrote:Mounce's Basics of Biblical Greek has a look-alike list in the appendices. I don't have it handy at the moment, but it might contain a few more.

I've gotten bit a few times by accents that don't match the 'normalized form' (e.g. when τις gets accented because of sentence context), so it might be useful to mention a few of those examples as well.

My Mounce is old - the first edition, with Rod Decker's notes scribbled all over it, I love having a book with his notes. I just generated a list that has a few errors by using a collation to ignore diacritics. There are more than I was expecting!

At any rate, I just generated a list for the entire GNT, with some false positives I need to weed out.

This one's kind of fun: ἡ ἤ ᾖ ἠ ᾗ ἥ η ( ὁ ἤ εἰμί ὅς ).

And this one's appropriate for Christmas: ὁ ὅ Ο. (The last of these comes from upper case usages like ΟΥΤΟΣ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΙΗΣΟΥΣ Ο ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΤΩΝ ΙΟΥΔΑΙΩΝ.)

Collapsing via collation is a good idea!

Here's Mounce's list (2nd edition):

1. τις,τι,τίς,τί
2. ἡ,ἥ,ἤ,ᾗ,ᾖ
3. οἱ,αἱ,οἵ,αἵ
4. ὁ,ὅ,ὄν,ὅν
5. ὤν,ὧν
6. ἧς,ᾖς,ἦν,ἥν
7. αὐτή,αὕτη
8. αὐταί,αὗται
9. οὐ,οὗ
10. ἔξω,ἕξω
11. ἐν,ἕν
12. ὦ,ὦ,ᾧ
13. ἀλλά,ἄλλα
14. εἰ,εἶ
15. εἰς,εἶς
16. ποτέ,πότε
17. ἄρα,ἆρα
18. liquid futures

I haven't checked this carefully, here's the raw output of the query I wrote. It probably needs editing before it should be trusted.

ἀγαθοποιῶν ( ἀγαθοποιός ἀγαθοποιέω )
ἀδικῶ ἀδίκῳ ( ἀδικέω ἄδικος )
αἱ αἵ ( ὁ ὅς )
αἰνών αἰνῶν ( αἰνών αἰνέω )
ἀλλά ἄλλα ( ἀλλά ἄλλος )
ἄμωμον ( ἄμωμος ἄμωμον )
ἄννα ( ἅννα ἅννας )
ἄνω ἀνῶ ( ἄνω ἀνίημι )
ἀποκαλύψει ( ἀποκάλυψις ἀποκαλύπτω )
ἄρα ἆρα ( ἄρα ἆρα )
ἄρας ἀρᾶς ( αἴρω ἀρά )
ἀριμαθαίας ἁριμαθαίας ( ἀριμαθαία ἁριμαθαία )
ἀσθενῶν ( ἀσθενέω ἀσθενής )
ἀσθενῶν ( ἀσθενέω ἀσθενής )
αὐτῇ αὕτη αὐτή ( αὐτός οὗτος )
αὕτη αὐτῇ ( οὗτος αὐτός )
αὐτῇ αὕτη ( αὐτός οὗτος )
αὕτη αὐτῇ ( οὗτος αὐτός )
αὐτόν αὑτόν ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτοῦ ( αὐτός αὐτοῦ )
αὐτοῦ ( αὐτός αὐτοῦ )
αὐτούς αὑτούς ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτούς αὑτούς ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὑτούς αὐτούς ( ἑαυτοῦ αὐτός )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
βεβαιώσει ( βεβαιόω βεβαίωσις )
γνῶσιν ( γνῶσις γινώσκω )
γραφῶν γράφων ( γραφή γράφω )
δίκαιοι δικαιοῖ ( δίκαιος δικαιόω )
δικαίων δικαιῶν ( δίκαιος δικαιόω )
δόξῃ ( δόξα δοκέω )
δωρεάν ( δωρεάν δωρεά )
εἶ εἰ εἴ ( εἰμί εἰ )
εἰς εἷς εἴς ( εἰς εἷς )
ἐκτός ἕκτος ( ἐκτός ἕκτος )
ἐλεεῖ ἐλέει ( ἐλεέω ἔλεος )
ἐμοί ( ἐγώ ἐμός )
ἐμοῦ ( ἐγώ ἐμός )
ἐν ἕν ἔν ( ἐν εἷς )
ἐναντίον ( ἐναντίον ἐναντίος )
ἑνί ἔνι ( εἷς ἔνι )
ἐξ ἕξ ( ἐκ ἕξ )
ἔστηκεν ἕστηκεν ( στήκω ἵστημι )
ζήλῳ ζηλῶ ( ζῆλος ζηλόω )
ἡ ἤ ᾖ ἠ ᾗ ἥ η ( ὁ ἤ εἰμί ὅς )
ἦν ἥν ( εἰμί ὅς )
ἧς ἦς ( ὅς εἰμί )
θεῖον ( θεῖον θεῖος )
ἰουδαία ἰουδαίᾳ ( ἰουδαία ἰουδαῖος )
ἰουδαίαν ( ἰουδαία ἰουδαῖος )
ἰουδαίας ( ἰουδαία ἰουδαῖος )
κακοποιῶν ( κακοποιός κακοποιέω )
καλῶν ( καλέω καλός )
κράτει ( κράτος κρατέω )
μακράν ( μακράν μακρός )
μαρτύρων μαρτυρῶν ( μάρτυς μαρτυρέω )
μέριμνα μεριμνᾷ ( μέριμνα μεριμνάω )
μεριμνῶν ( μεριμνάω μέριμνα )
μήν ( μήν (ii) μήν (i) )
μόνην μονήν ( μόνος μονή )
νόσων νοσῶν ( νόσος νοσέω )
ὁ ὅ ο ( ὁ ὅς )
οἱ οἵ ( ὁ ὅς )
οἰκοδομῶν οἰκοδόμων ( οἰκοδομέω οἰκοδόμος )
οἰκτίρμων οἰκτιρμῶν ( οἰκτίρμων οἰκτιρμός )
ὅν ὄν ( ὅς εἰμί )
οὗ οὐ οὔ ( ὅς οὗ οὐ )
οὖς οὕς ( οὖς ὅς )
πάθῃ πάθη ( πάσχω πάθος )
πλέον ( πολύς πλέω )
ποιήσει ( ποιέω ποίησις )
ποιῶ ποίῳ ( ποιέω ποῖος )
ποτε ποτέ πότε ( ποτέ πότε )
ποτε ποτέ πότε ( ποτέ πότε )
ποῦ που πού ( ποῦ πού )
σής σῆς ( σής σός )
σοι σοί ( σύ σός )
σταυροῦ σταύρου ( σταυρός σταυρόω )
ταπεινώσει ( ταπεινόω ταπείνωσις )
τι τί ( τὶς τίς )
τίνα τινά τινα ( τίς τὶς )
τινάς τινας τίνας ( τὶς τίς )
τινες τίνες τινές ( τὶς τίς )
τίνι τινι τινί ( τίς τὶς )
τίνος τινος τινός ( τίς τὶς )
τίνων τινων τινῶν ( τίς τὶς )
τίς τις ( τίς τὶς )
τισιν τισίν τίσιν ( τὶς τίς )
ὑπομνήσει ( ὑπομιμνῄσκω ὑπόμνησις )
ὑποταγῇ ( ὑποτάσσω ὑποταγή )
φανερώσει ( φανερόω φανέρωσις )
φιλαδελφίᾳ φιλαδελφία ( φιλαδελφία φιλαδέλφεια )
φιλαδελφίαν ( φιλαδελφία φιλαδέλφεια )
φιλῶν φίλων ( φιλέω φίλος )
φόβου φοβοῦ ( φόβος φοβέω )
φοβοῦ φόβου ( φοβέω φόβος )
φυλακάς φύλακας ( φυλακή φύλαξ )
χάριν ( χάρις χάριν )
χάριν ( χάρις χάριν )
χειρῶν χείρων ( χείρ χείρων )
χειρῶν χείρων ( χείρ χείρων )
χρυσοῦ ( χρυσοῦς χρυσός )
ᾧ ὦ ( ὅς ὦ )
ὦ ( εἰμί ὦ )
ὤν ὧν ( εἰμί ὅς )
ὠσίν ὦσιν ( οὖς εἰμί )
ὦσιν ὠσίν ( εἰμί οὖς )

Jonathan Robie wrote: αὐτόν αὑτόν ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτούς αὑτούς ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτούς αὑτούς ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὑτούς αὐτούς ( ἑαυτοῦ αὐτός )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )
αὐτῷ αὑτῷ ( αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ )

These look suspiciously related to https://github.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/issues/22. I wonder if that patch hasn't made its way into the syntax trees yet?

Emma Ehrhardt wrote:These look suspiciously related to https://github.com/morphgnt/sblgnt/issues/22. I wonder if that patch hasn't made its way into the syntax trees yet?

Very likely.