A Non-Aramaism in Luke 6:7

Author(s): J. A. L. Lee
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Novum Testamentum, Vol. 33, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1991), pp. 28-34
Published by: BRILL
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1561195 .
Accessed: 03/12/2012 08:27
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

BRILL is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Novum Testamentum.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Novum Testamentum XXXIII, 1 (1991)

A NON-ARAMAISM

IN LUKE 6:7

by

J. A. L. LEE
Sydney, Australia

is found in a context requiring the sense of

In Luke 6:7 6upCtaxo
"find a way (to)", "be able (to)":
voaF[ta:
to
8I auotv oL ypaOLRartlotxal olOtaptaaoo
td
Ti
Ospatxtiutti,
etpow)tv xoat%TiopEtvaOtou.1

7xap'r7]pouvTo

ivW

This use, also found in the text of D at 11:54 and 13:24, has been
the subject of remark since the time of Wellhausen, who suggested
that an Aramaism was involved.2 In more recent discussion,
notably by Black, Fitzmyer, and Wilcox,3 attention has been
focused on establishing the necessary evidence on the Aramaic side,
namely the existence of a verb with the two senses of "find" and
"be able". It now seems beyond doubt that in Palestinian Aramaic
of the New Testament period skhwas in use in just this way. With
this settled, Fitzmyer and Wilcox are happy to conclude that the use
of 6upiaxwin the sense of "be able" reflects Aramaic interference.
But what of Greek usage? Is it safe to assume that in the Koine
was used only in the sense of "find", and that "be
period eupCaxco
able" was not part of its semantic range? For Black and Wilcox the
question simply does not arise. Fitzmyer is aware of its importance,
This reading, adopted in Westcott and Hort, Souter, NA25, continues to
hold the field in UBS3/NA26with the support of p4i'dR* B E f' 28 1241 al sa. The
majority reading has xa-rlTopCavfor xa%vrloptwV(often combined with xaCs'before
atuou).

2
J. Wellhausen, Einleitungin die dreierstenEvangelien(2Berlin, 1911), p. 17 (not
available to me: reference and substance from Wilcox's article cited in the next
note).
3 M. Black, An AramaicApproach
to theGospelsandActs('Oxford, 1967), pp. 1334. J.A. Fitzmyer, "The Study of the Aramaic Background of the New TestaAramean:Collected
AramaicEssays(SBL Monograph
ment", in A Wandering
Series,25,
1979), pp. 12-3 (originally published in 1975). M. Wilcox, "Semitisms in the New
derromischenWeltII.25.2 (1984), pp. 1011-2.
Testament", AufstiegundNiedergang
Fitzmyer's material reappears without substantial change in his TheGospelAccording to LukeI-IX (The AnchorBible, New York, 1981), pp. 117, 610-11.

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A NON-ARAMAISM

IN LUKE

6:7

29

but his investigation into Greek usage goes no further than a consideration of the one papyrus occurrence noted by BAG (1957)."
Having (rightly) rejected this as not being a true parallel to Luke
6:7, he treats the matter as closed.
In fact there is good evidence for the use of epC'xpaxin the sense

of "be able" in post-Classical Greek, much of it readily available

in standardreference works. The examples I have been able to find,
without attempting to be exhaustive, are set out below. For the first
of them we need look no further than LSJ (s.v. 1.3.):
Epictetus 2.12.2 86CTOv 4)O.XILtr1Lj.vlbtwVCTIV'rtv' r6v nPoas8mcXIT6ytuVOVx=1 oU'x

ep6pxIL Xyp4saoOkt
akrptc,&XX&LLxp&x vaac 9rv &v9pcnov,&vnxp&AxLXoc
&itavte

&X' Xot8opitq xa'=Tt)4 xalt X)kit "Mcatvj"Mc

bCitvo;, o1Xi-tL 86VOc=aLf.LIaXILpCfaaaa, &
ou'x1tv acjkrp 'awoott."
LrrCv-

"At all events, give to anyone of us you please some layman with whom to carry
on an argument; he will find no way of dealing with him, but after moving the
man a little, in case the latter thwarts him, our man gives up trying to handle him,
and thereafter either reviles him, or laughs him to scorn, and remarks, 'He is a
mere layman; it is impossible to do anything with him."' (W. A. Oldfather, Loeb
edn.)

The parallel with our Lucan example is clear: oi'XF3pp(aEXp'aocaakL

= "he does not find a way/is unable to deal with him". We
Ocu-z&
notice, too, that Epictetus, varying his word, uses 86va'rotto express
much the same thought further on in the sentence, when he says
o1xi-Lt 86G,va' jtIE-rXLPC(acaO0= "he is no longer able to handle
him".
Plutarch, Pyrrhus 6.1 Lx 8t 'ro6?ounoXX&Fdv -rptvo(iv xal ILt-&la 'nj yVcd)RL,T4 b

IX='artR&wra xK'pc 7pxrovav'ntXoq43cpv6.tivo;

'ncov?r.XrlClov,
t?pcv IRVovat'notq

1 VOC7CpOq4OtI(.
IX TOL&CF8
M(xX986vC.)v7tP&TILOCCLV

"After this, he began to revolve many large projects in his mind; but his hopes
were fixed first and more especially on undertakings close at hand, and he found
a way to take direct part in Macedonian affairs, on grounds something like the
following." (B. Perrin, Loeb edn.)

Again we find tiipC'xo without an object and linked directly with an

intrans. aor. 2, "grow in", "plant oneself in",
infinitive (IjApOvart
etc.).

4 ViZ. P. Par. 45.7

'n xaral o liWMv.
This was
(153 BC) 7poaiXcovtIh teISpaj
evidently taken over by BAG from Moulton-Mulligan, who unjustifiably cited it
in this connexion and failed to notice any better parallel. It continues to appear
in BAGD (1979), and Bauer' (1988), still with the outmoded reference to P. Par.
45 (- UPZ 69).

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

30

J. A. L. LEE

xcal voTtfs &v&Txrli npo9ew(a,

Achilles Tatius 1.10.2 tav T&pA1cSk ~apayriv7rrrat
i7vBiv =XavowesCk,
v t;, c6upjact; 'csxtCv
x&vxpwToxX6twU
Urn'atroo !aLcoil9 sou 9Eto.
"For when you begin to feel the pangs and it is clear that the destined day is at
hand, you cannot go wrong, even though it be your first labour, but you will find
the way to bring forth and the god himself will deliver you." (S. Gaselee, Loeb
edn.)

Likewise O'Sullivan defines the meaning as "discoverhow to".5

VitaAesopiG 35.16-7 6 .&vOo;daxo6aac
aoc6 8
!iv Cll at, Rieuupiaxcov
9qtXoa69ou
aXico &v,XraOt, ['r Aaxwac oci&rt] XTiyE "xwvra Q Oeidt 7cpovo(f 8totxtart."6
"Xanthos hearing a problem for a philosopher, but not being able to solve it
readily, said 'All things are under the control of divine providence'."
Idem48.27-9 tq
'trv

tO tipou? Xifit "Stlat' 6 JILv

xwp6Cro
aXooXaCucv
Xp6patrov:it

Ouaciav&T6Fjivov ou xixpatvv,TO

8& XoLpC8tovta6T&X0TovOpu6l;" Mn7I8v6{o5v

.
r^lv pcrTl7atv,
AraownoX,Tyt ...
espioxovTo Xuoat

"One of the students said to the others, 'Why is it that a sheep being led to
slaughter does not cry out, while a pig makes a great deal of noise?' When no one
was able to answer the question, Aesop said ..."

Idem 102.4-7 In' lxitvot; Eirodtxatpot I9Oo;

c aXXslXcXov
stXovo paoicaXt xop'
p96pous
otart'T; vapiTOu
Iv xoXVLRot;
ori yaTp
auviaTvrooitse
I&X0lC-?
XaopCL&vetv
U&Xat;ac
rypacov
T&p xpopX llara cXt)oaopac;
riXtt T& 7i1iLat4vrt.

Bt'imaro)lXv,

xal 6 L ui)Pio
pxcov

p6pou;
toxX,6aaBocat

"In those times the kings had a custom of exacting tribute from one another by
a contest of virtue (?): they did not engage in wars or battles, but used to send
each other philosophical problems by letter, and the one who was not able to solve
(a problem) paid tribute to the sender."
Dio Chrysostomos 33.44 xal nvti pliv UrjyV6pY-rovtatxaot oao([i 6Upp(tivTV n6\Lv,
rat tvi t ioC
t
xasXaTiEX
atv, tl np.tp.tl8tv6;
0ro6u . TauTa7cotov:ra;oux oalXtoV
xpiTTOvo; espov txiLTv.

"Some of you are angry and say that I am insulting your city, but they do not
find fault with those who do these things; some on the other hand are perhaps
laughing at the fact that I was not able to talk about anything more important."

5 J. N. O'Sullivan, A LexicontoAchillesTatius(Berlin/New York, 1980), s.v. 3a.

Rather different, I think, is 2.35.5 &7rnX9,v
6 pator^-ouXtuipcvxmEtv,where mxtv
is virtually a substantive and E6pCtoxhas the sense of "get". Cf. John 4:7,10 B66
l0otxCt7v.O'Sullivan however defines it as "geta chanceto" (3b), which makes it very
close to Luke's use. The same uncertainty appears in Epict. 3.19.5 &vAiuOupWolEv
x paX3ovttou,
where again I feel affilv is quasi-substantival, though it might
fparytTv
be adduced as a further parallel to Luke. I wish to thank Dr. Suzanne MacAlister
for bringing the Achilles Tatius examples to my notice.
6 References are to section and
page line in B. E. Perry, Aesopica(Urbana,
1952). This version of the Life, dated by Perry to I AD, is a rare example of a work
of literature written (for the most part) in popular Koine Greek.

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

31

A NON-ARAMAISM IN LUKE 6:7

In the papyri Preisigke lists some dozen examples, adding

"usw." for good measure.7 Of these the dearest are:
B.G.U. 38.7-15 (II-III AD) 1xotoLa&A,uv
7xrpanlroX)edvouXfula

X
xixal ap&'r

c
aI OXCo, Ti d&vrta &VpdLRt xal O
ox
yuvatx6; SEp7ivou &XXa ta, xa yivcjx?cV
&XXa T6popaxa
cjvoa oiC ErpaiT4ALOL,
etva 7iv4w arTot;.

prxa

"I received from Ptoleminus 63 (artabs?) of apples and from the wife of Serenus
an additional 11 (artabs?), and I want you to know that they have all gone bad
and I have not been able to give them to the persons to whom you wrote to me
to give them, but I have bought some to send to them."8
B.G.U. 822.28-9 (II-III AD) xal Iv
sUpo[J]9v irt=iooXhv
Typ&iai.

aot
0pavf,

t OFiJlov
FLot Tp9ov

'w
X&p'rlv,

"And if it seems good to you, send me some clean writing paper, so that I can
write a letter".
P. CairoPreis. 2.12-4 (362 AD) &xououv &norjt7ar e tlc S itov Epyov,ioCo; tIup
iuWEtptf.aTlT6v Piov, itripCq&vBplliScoxv

r^AvaVv

auS,Btov.

"When I had gone away on business, so that I might be able to provide for my
livelihood, she gave the said wife in marriage to another man."9
P. CairoMasp. 2.111.23 (VI AD) ... gwco;f{upca;ev loiXC; povat.
"... so that we may be able to live quietly."

In addition to the evidence given so far, a new source of examples

of this use has been brought to light in BAGD (1979). Here we find
three examples cited from Astrampsychus,'o with the remark that
"it is perhaps better to conclude that 6pp(Cxco
with inf. = be able".
While this is a welcome addition to the evidence, BAGD simply
adds it to the P. Par. example mentioned above, and adduces none
of the other material available.
BAGD's references here can also be updated in the light of the
valuable work done by G. M. Browne on this text, now known as
the SortesAstrampsychi,
and edited-at least as regards its "first edition"-in the Teubner series.11 In the text now published by
Browne, which he has convincingly argued was first compiled in III

7F. Preisigke, Worterbuch

der griechischenPapyrusurkunden
(Berlin, 1925-31).
Several of these are found in LSJ, s.v. 11.2.
8 &dPav(c 'spoil' fits the context best: the writer has received the
apples, but
finds something amiss with them. For the sense see LSJ 1.6; G. P. Shipp, Moden
GreekEvidenceJor
theAncientGreekVocabulary
(Sydney, 1979), p. 117; and H. Lietz'sind verdorben'").
mann, Griechische
Papyri(Bonn, 1910), no. 9 ("pdi&vtoatx
9
/IuMp'rtaot UatClptlaLo

10 In the edition of R. Hercher

(1863).
1 SortesAstrampsychi,VolumenI: EcdosisPrior(Leipzig, 1983).

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

32

J. A. L. LEE

AD in Egypt,12there are some dozen examples of the use we are

looking for. They are all very similar, and a selection will suffice:
Sort. Astr. I, Quaest.83 ti euplcaxcw o)Xal.
"Do I find means to sell?"
Sort. Astr. 1, Dec. Resp. 3.8 ouXctpiaxt.;q &ptt 8avi(oCaea.
"You are not able to borrow now."
Idem 12.9 ?Up 'aeL; 7o,Xgait.

To xpa'a-to;.
Idem58.1 ouXtup)EopL; xtpsfloat&dno
Idem66.3 tipt oxslc oXfoa) U.Xt&
xipSou;.'3

We may round off this collection with three examples from the
Patristic literature that happen to have come to light but might be
no more than the tip of the iceberg.14
PatrumPG 65.253B xal oux gEpov pobsxauxa&roxptvaoaoiaurTp.
Apophthegmata
Idem 333C -r;
C x xv

Buo

ppiLoxet taoat;

7o ptLiMcM(at
xai outt'Sv I.txp&vILouoivatv
7&vrvo0Ov,
Ephraem Syrus 2.105C SoU3
giplioxo paXgtv.'1

"I am distracted on all sides, and am not even able to recite my Small Office."

The above evidence attests this use of euptaxco

from the first to the
sixth centuries, in sources ranging from everyday documents to
highly conscious works of literature. The conclusion seems warranted that it was a normal, though possibly infrequent, feature of
Koine Greek idiom.
Where did such a use come from? Can anything be said about
its antecedents within Greek? In fact the origins of this use are not
difficult to detect. To begin with, there is actually a Classical occurrence very like the examples we have been considering:
12

See Sortes,p. V, and especially "The Origin and Date of the Sortes Astrampsychi", Illinois ClassicalStudies 1 (1976), pp. 53-8. BAGD's note in its list of
"Writers and Writings'in Antiquity", p. xxxiii, also needs revision in the light
of Browne's researches. Remarks here and above about BAGD apply equally to
Bauer6 (1988), which shows no change from BAGD.
13 The
remaining examples are at Quaest.25 (restored), Dec. Resp. 18.1, 26.2,
57.10, 67.4, 72.6, 81.8, 87.1.
14 I owe the first two to E. A.
Sophocles, GreekLexiconof theRomanandByzantine
Periods(New York, 1887). There is no mention of this use in Lampe's PatristicGreek
Lexiconunder tup(oxw.
15 Quoted from
Lampe s.v. aovo4t;:the edition of this text is not available to
me.

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

A NON-ARAMAISMIN LUKE 6:7

33

Euripides, Medea195-8
8i pPo'Tc&v
o'S d; X6szo;
=fT(COu;
vnups'o .to6tIjxxi xoXuX6p8oi;
48sdtC7rea6t4v,d-EC,)v Bdn

betvat m %V'Xat
crip&Uouat
s6lrouc.
"But no one has found a way to stop, by music and many-stringed songs, the
hateful griefs of mortals, because of which deaths and dread fortunes overthrow
houses."'

16

Semantically this seems indistinguishable from the later use,

though it does differ in showing the middle and not the active.1'
There is no other example exactly like it attested for the Classical

period, so it might be regarded as an isolated poetic innovation.

Even at that it shows the potential for such an extension of the

in ordinary language. But there are other signs

meaning of eu'p(axco
that it was no very striking development.
An example of 4.C'pxoj.xrL+ infinitive in Herodotus is cited by
Page and Smyth in this connexion:
Hdt. 9.28.3

ld

nauaa4fl C
-NOIp&

Bi ag vAcrepovxvO
o6to
XCp&
t0
Io oe;
CT=avto Koptv8(wv
AxwvxOyCXatot,
?WrVLXflaXX1EwYs
1t=&votnIIO?i-LBat-qdWV
vokn xaps6v'a ?rpt-nxoa(ou;.

"Next to them stood 5000 Corinthians, and they had secured from Pausanias that
beside them should stand the 300 Potidaeans from Pallene who were present."

Here we have e.iupcmxoliatl

in the sense of "find/get for oneself',

"obtain", a frequent use in Classical Greek (LSJ IV), to which is

added an inf. with subject in the acc. While semantically the end
result is somewhat different from the Euripides example (and our
one in Luke), syntactically it shows the same development.'8
In much the same way we find Thucydides amplifying F.p(paxw
with a 'ircC dause in:
Th. 7.67.2 ... 7xooi

x L &xovtv,todr
rt x1i &XXot
1id
kc elsstv 'Ax=pv&vL,
XPtpcraot
xph
vao. &vap&vTrt,o'to065'5xcg x -oCwidvou; 'r p3xoi &qsicvaot
g6piouO..

16 Cf.
howto", citing this example; Page, Medea
LSJ s.v. 1.4: "find outor discover
? 2135: "!findhowto".
ad loc.: "has discovered howto stop"; Smyth, GreekGrammar
17 Cf.
J. Humbert, Syntaxegrecque(Paris, 1972), p. 105: "II arrive souvent que
l'inte&etpersonnel que l'on porte A I'action donne a celle-ci une nuance adeterminEee: en face de i6pfaxet
ai
vtrouveru, tuppaxsaOoct
signifie fr6quemmeni aramvier
trouver"."I
'" Further examples just like the one in Hdt. are found in Dio Cassius: 42.20.3
-CY&plid &Vac-CavP&OPWv
xatl1 'r&XXM
GUvtE6CSdtC"ax2(
OIPLCtv... dUPETo
ou=yxcOKOO((al
("he obtained for himself that he should sit on the same benches with them and
in other respects be reckoned among them"); 47.31.5 $ tc KXeo,,&zpx
... tij'pvo'r6v

u16v ... pamXia 'tt; AT6=rou AXXf-jqtv.

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

34

J. A. L. LEE

"... and many javelin-men also, land animals so to speak, Acarnanians and
others, put aboard ships, who will not even find the way to discharge their missiles
sitting down".19

Finally it may be observed that the same development was established early in the case of a verb of similar semantic force, namely
eXco.From Homer onwards, and continuing into later Greek, this
verb is occasionally found constructed with an infinitive, giving the
sense of "have means (to)", "be able (to)" (see LSJ A.III., BAGD
I.6.a.). A New Testament example affords the most apt
illustration:
au-co.20
aro6v, t'va XocotvxoMroTopItv
[John] 8:6 to*to OFl,rrov 7ettp&Covcc;

We may reasonably conclude, then, that our use of eu6ptCxcis not

only amply established for Koine Greek, but also has its roots in the
earlier language. There is no reason to regard it as in any way
unGreek or as unavailable to a writer such as Luke.
19 The construction
crops up again later: Dio Chrys. 11.108 ... ou81i OCo
r6v "Ex'opoa6p(axov.
&=doxtrECv'I
20 UBSS/NA26 text.
(in "1
Interestingly, eupcoaLvappears as a variant to txrootv
pc"). Mention should also be made of st=opio ("have plenty", etc.), which as
early as Aristotle (Top. 102a 13: LSJ 1.2) is being constructed with an infin. to
give the meaning "have the means (to)", and ends up as the usual Mod. Gk. word
for "be able",
opco.

This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.52.70 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012 08:27:40 AM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions