Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

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Stephen Hughes
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Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Cadbury (April 1933) Lexical Notes on Luke-Acts. V. Luke and the Horse-Doctors. JBL 52, 1, pg. 58, and Hobart (1882) The Medical Language of St Luke, pg. 11, seem to suggest that ἀνακαθίζειν is either a medical word or a word generally used in a medical sense. The two New Testament occurrences in
Luke 7:15 wrote:Καὶ ἀνεκάθισεν ὁ νεκρός, καὶ ἤρξατο λαλεῖν. Καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ.
Acts 9:40 wrote:Ἐκβαλὼν δὲ ἔξω πάντας ὁ Πέτρος θεὶς τὰ γόνατα προσηύξατο· καὶ ἐπιστρέψας πρὸς τὸ σῶμα, εἶπεν, Ταβηθά, ἀνάστηθι. Ἡ δὲ ἤνοιξεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῆς· καὶ ἰδοῦσα τὸν Πέτρον, ἀνεκάθισεν.
are both in "medical" circumstances, rather than as part of the daily routine.

A few other quotes are
Hippocrates, Prognosticon, 3 wrote:Ἀνακαθίζειν δὲ βούλεσθαι τὸν νοσέοντα, τῆς νούσου ἀκμαζούσης, πονηρὸν μὲν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖσιν ὀξέσι νουσήμασι, κάκιστον δὲ ἐν τοῖσι περιπλευμονικοῖσιν.
Which is clearly a medical context, but not descriptive of the action at all.
Hierocles, 181, 17 wrote:Ἀναπεσὼν δὲ ἐγείρεσθαι πάλιν τοῖς ὀπισθίοις ἀδυνατεῖ ἀλλ ἀνακαθίζει ὡς κύων τοῖς ἐμπροσθίοις
The imagery that Cadbury introduces here from Hierocles is about a horse which is unable to stand up, but which props up it body using its forelegs like a dog.
Xenophon, On Hunting 5.7 wrote:ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὑλώδεσι μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν τοῖς ψιλοῖς ὄζει: διατρέχων γὰρ καὶ ἀνακαθίζων ἅπτεται πολλῶ.
The usual way that rabbits sit (up) is propped up on the forelegs, rather than than on just the hindlegs, which they will do for a moment to reach up to something.
Plato, Phaedo wrote:[60b] τε καὶ κοπτομένην: ὁ δὲ Σωκράτης ἀνακαθιζόμενος εἰς τὴν κλίνην συνέκαμψέ τε τὸ σκέλος καὶ ἐξέτριψε τῇ χειρί, καὶ τρίβων ἅμα, ὡς ἄτοπον, ἔφη, ὦ ἄνδρες, ...
Evidently this image is of Socrates not leaning his weight on the couch, which ἀνακλίνω might suggest, but sitting up himself, and with one or both of his legs up in the air or bent up close to him, it is probable that the arm that was not rubbing the leg, was propping him up.

My take on that is that this is a word used to describe a type of sitting propped up or steadied by the arms, or that the arms are used to push or walk the body up to a seated position, rather than by swinging the legs over the side of the bed etc. to role then balance the torso in a seated position, in our literature on somebody sitting up on a bier or on a bed after sickness.

What circumstances could that be used in composition for?
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Paul-Nitz
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Joined: June 1st, 2011, 4:19 am
Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Paul-Nitz »

Thanks. So it's sitting propped up with your arms, a nice parallel with αναστηναι.

By "for composition" do you mean "In what scenarios might a person use such a word?"

Hearing a noise outside, he sat up in bed and looked out the window.
The boss found him slouched in his chair. When the boss walked in, he sat up in his chair.
They sat up on the rail of the ship.
The couple sat up on the grassy hill, watching the sunrise.
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Yes. That's what I mean.

There is an obvious verbal metonymy here for the "medical" meaning. Sitting up in bed is a sign that somebody is recovering, like when we say, "back on their feet". An obvious indication that somebody is well is to see them sitting up.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Paul-Nitz wrote:Hearing a noise outside, he sat up in bed and looked out the window.
Yes, perhaps. I wonder how much balance there is in ἀνακαθίζειν. Whether it is natural balanced state of the body or a passing posture.
The boss found him slouched in his chair. When the boss walked in, he sat up in his chair.
ὀρθοκάθηται might do that.
They sat up on the rail of the ship.
Do people first lie on the rails of ships, before sitting up? ἐπικαθίζειν might work.
The couple sat up on the grassy hill, watching the sunrise.
From memory, the Gospels use ἀνακλίνουσιν of the crowds seated on the ground listening to Jesus. Presumably the couple would have to have been lying down in the night, rather than sitting and chatting till dawn to use ἀνακαθίζειν.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Paul-Nitz
Posts: 497
Joined: June 1st, 2011, 4:19 am
Location: Sussex, Wisconsin

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Paul-Nitz »

What a great resource you are Stephen. This is exactly how I figured out the true meaning of words when learning Chichewa. Can I use it this way, that way, another way. I'd get responses similar to what you gave and end up with a better feel for the word, just as I have from your comments. ορθοκαθηναι is a great word to learn. ορθοκάθητε μαθηται!
Paul D. Nitz - Lilongwe Malawi
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Paul-Nitz wrote:What a great resource you are Stephen.
I am giving you my opinions about the word's usage. I've read Cadbury half-page article and Hobart's article that extends over two pages, and looked through the passages they quote. Those guys - Hobart first, and Cadbury following suit - seem to have been interpreting the meaning and usage of the words in the context of "discovering" (proving) that the Author of Luke - Acts was one and the same, and that he was a doctor (or perhaps an equine vet). Without doubt, the usage in Luke - Acts has been demonstrated by those learners gentlemen to be something more significant or nuanced than what we might literally read in a translation. In terms of "cultural" interpretation, as I mentioned above, this ἀνακαθίζειν is like our "back on their feet", signifying recovery, and if the stories had been recorded in the English medium, they might not have favoured the same elements. Jairus' daughter might be described as being "back on her feet and running around", both culturally nuanced references to her recovery. That is to say, that a next logical step following from the conclusion of Hobart, elaborated a little by that section of the study by Cadbury a generation later might be to look at how the Greek language biased the compositional choices that Luke made - ie that he he clearly wrote within the norms and expectations of the language.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

cwconrad in the thread [url=http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3942#p26428]Re: Listing the Hellenistic Corpus[/url] wrote:For questions like that of ἀνακαθίζειν as sitting up from a sick bed, I'd certainly want to looking into Hellenistic medical texts.
Stephen Hughes wrote:Cadbury (April 1933) Lexical Notes on Luke-Acts. V. Luke and the Horse-Doctors. JBL 52, 1, pg. 58, and Hobart (1882) The Medical Language of St Luke, pg. 11, seem to suggest that ἀνακαθίζειν is either a medical word or a word generally used in a medical sense.
I realised after posting this that I had copied the reference for Hobart from BDAG, uncorrected, but didn't think it was worth bothering SCC's trouble to have it corrected. Hobart's coverage of ἀνακαθίζειν actually goes on to page 12 too.

The document on archieve.org is at The Medical Language of St Luke. It is on the fiftieth and fifty-first physical pages of the book, numbered as pages 11 - 12.

Galen's (130 - 210 CE) use of ἀνακαθίζειν, is quoted on page 12.
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
Stephen Hughes
Posts: 3323
Joined: February 26th, 2013, 7:12 am

Re: Composition based on ἀνακαθίζειν.

Post by Stephen Hughes »

Stephen Hughes wrote:
Luke 7:15 wrote:Καὶ ἀνεκάθισεν ὁ νεκρός, καὶ ἤρξατο λαλεῖν. Καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ.
I wouldn't be surprised if the phrase ἔδωκεν αὐτὸν τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ was found to have medical connotations too.

Cf. these:
Luk 9:42 wrote:καὶ ἰάσατο τὸν παῖδα, καὶ ἀπέδωκεν αὐτὸν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ.
Listed under "of things" in BDAG, ἀποδίδωμι (3,a).

and on the other side of the διδόναι - λαμβάνειν coin:
Hebrews 11:35 wrote:Ἔλαβον γυναῖκες ἐξ ἀναστάσεως τοὺς νεκροὺς αὐτῶν·
Γελᾷ δ' ὁ μωρός, κἄν τι μὴ γέλοιον ᾖ
(Menander, Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι 108)
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