Knowledge of One’s Language

Educated speakers are notoriously unreliable in analyzing their own language. If Chrysostom weighs two competing interpretations, his conclusion should be valued as an important opinion and no more. If, on the other hand, he fails to address a linguistic problem because he does not appear to perceive a possible ambiguity, his silence is of the greatest value in helping us determine how Paul’s first readers were likely to have interpreted the text.

Moisés Silva, Philippians, 27.

Vocab list for Greek Mark Exam

This is most of the list, minus chapter 16, for those of you who would benefit from a digital format.

Mark 8

σπλαγχνίζομαι – have pity, feel sympathy

προσμένω – I remain, stay

νηστις, ὁ, ἡ – not eating, hungry

μακρόθεν – from far

πόθεν – from where

χορτάζω – fill, satisfy

ἐρημία, ἡ – wilderness, dessert

παραγγέλλω – give order, command, instruct, direct

εὐχαριστέω – give thanks

χλάω – break

παρατίθημι – set before

ἰχθύδιον, τό – little fish

ὀλίγος – little, few, small

εὐλογέω – bless

παρίσσευμα, τό – what remains, scraps, abundance

χλάσμα, τό – fragment, piece, crumb.

στιρίς, ή – basket, hamper

τετραχισχίλιοι – four thousand

ἐυβαίνω – embark, go in

μερός, τό – pl. district, region

πειπάζω – test, tempt

ἀναστενάζω – sigh deeply

γενεά – generation

ἐμβαίνω – embark, go in

ἐπιλανθάνομαι – forget, neglect

ζύμη – leaven

ουπω – not yet

νοέω – consider, perceive

σινίημι – understand

οῠς, τό – ear

μνημονεύω – remember

πέντε – five

πεντακισχίλιοι – five thousand

πλήρης – full, filled

ἐπιλαμβάνομαι – take hold of, grasp

ἐκφέρω – lead, carry or bring out

πτύω – spit

ὄμμα, τό – eye

δένδρον, τό – tree

εἴτα – then

διαβλέπω – look intently, open one’s eyes wide, see clearly

ἀποκαθίστημι – restore, give back

ἐμβλέπω – look at

ἅπας – all

βαπτιστής – Baptist

πάσχω – suffer

ἀποδοκιμάζω – reject

παρρησία, ή – outspokenness, openness, confidence; plainly, openly

φρονέω – set one’s mind on, think, be minded

ἁπαρνέομαι – deny

σταυρός, ό – cross

ἕνεκεν – because of, on account of

ὠφελέω – profit, benefit

κερδαίνω – gain

ζημιόω – (only passive) suffer loss, forfeit

ἀντάλλαγμα, τό – something given in exchange

ἑπαισχύνομια – be ashamed

μοιχαλίς, ἡ – adulteress; (adj.) adulterous

Chapter 9

γεύομαι – taste

ἕξ – six

ὑψηλός – high

μεταμορφόω – transform, transfigure

ἕμπροσθεν – before

λευχός – white

λίαν – very (much), exceedingly

οῐος – such as, what sort

λευκαίνω – bleach, whiten

συλλαλέω – speak together

σκηνή – tent, booth

νεφέλη, ἡ – cloud

ἐπισκιάζω – overshadow

πάσχω – suffer

ἐκθαμβέω – (only pass.) be amazed

προστρέχω – run up to

ἅλαλος – dumb, mute

καταλαμβάνω – lay hold of, seize, overtake

ὀδούς, τό – tooth

ἰσχύω – be able, be strong

ἀνέχω – (only mid.) bear with, endure

παιδιόθεν – from childhood

παλλάκις – often, many times, frequently

βοηθέω – help

ἐπισυντρέχω – run together

ἐπιτάσσω – order, command

μηκέτι – no longer

σταράσσω – tear, pull to and fro, convulse

ὡσεί – as, like

γένος, τό – class, kind; race

προσευχή, τό – prayer

κἀκεῐθεν – and from there

ἀγνοέω – be ignorant, not to know

σιωπάω – be silent

διαλέγομαι – discuss

μείζων – greater (comparative for superl.)

διάκονος, ὁ – servant, minister

κωλύω – hinder, forbid, prevent

ταχύ – quickly, at once

κακολογέω – speak evil of, revile, insult

ποτίζω – cause to drink, give to drink

μισθός – reward, pay

μικρός – little, small

περίκειμαι – lie, be placed around, wear

μύλος, ὁ – millstone

ὀνικός – pertaining to a donkey

τράκηλος, ὁ – neck

ἀποκόπτω – vut off

ἅσβεστος – inextinguishable

μονόφθαλμος – one-eyed

ἁλίζω – salt

ἅλας, τό – salt

ἄναλος – saltless, insipid

Chapter 15

συνέδριον, τό – council, Sanhedrin

κατηγορέω – accuse

θαυμάζω – marvel, wonder

ἑορτή – feast, festival

δέσμιος – prisoner

παραιτέομαι – ask for, request; decline, reject

στάσις, ἡ – insurrection, sedition

φόνος, ὁ – murder

φθόνος, ὁ – envy

ἀνασείω – stur up, incite

παρισσως – exceedingly, beyond measure, very

βούλομια – wish, will, want

ἱκανός – sufficient, fit, many

φραγελλόω – scourge, flog

στρατιώτης, ό – soldier

ἀπάγω – lead away, bring to

ἕσω – inside

αὐλή – courtyard, court

πραιτώριον, τό – governor’s official residence

συγκαλέω – call together, summon

σπεῐρα, ἡ – cohort

ἐνδιδύσκω – dress, put on

πορφύρω – purple, purple garment

περιτίθημι – put or place around, wear

ἀκάνθινος – thorny

στέφανος, ό – crown

χαῐρε – greetings

τύπτω – strike, beat

κάλαμος, ὁ – reed, stalk, staff

ἐμπτύω – spit on

γόνυ, τό – knee

ἐμπαίζω – mock, ridicule

μεθερμηνεύω – translate

οῐνος – wine

διαμερίζω – divide

κληρος, – lot

τρίτος – third

ἐπιγραφη, – inscription

αἰτία – charge, accusation, reason

ἐπιγράφω – write on

ληστής, – robber

εὐώνυμος – left

παραπορεομαι – go or pass by, go through

βλασφημέω – blaspheme, slander

οὐά – aha!

καταλύω – tear down, destroy

ναός – temple

οἰκοδομέω – build

ὁμοίως – likewise

ἐμπαίζω – ridicule, mock

συσταυρόω – crucify together

ὀνειδίζω – reproach

ἕκτος – sixth

σκότος – darkness

ἕνατος – ninth

βοάω – cry aloud

μεθερμηνεύω – forsake utterly

γενίζω – fill

σπόγγος, ὁ – sponge

ὅξος, τό – sour wine, wine vinegar

περιτίθημι – put or place around

καθαιρέω – take down, bring down, destroy

ἐκπνέω – expire, breathe out

καταπέτασμα, τό – veil, curtain

ναός – temple

σχιζω – split, divide

ἅνωθεν – from above, from top

κάτω – down, bottom

κεντυρίωον – centurion

ἐναντίος – opposite, against

πτωμα, τό – corpse

σινδών, ὁ – linen

Illuminated Manuscripts

This brings us to the true function of decoration in a twelfth-century book. It was clearly not just because it was pretty. The twelfth century was an age which delighted in classification and ordering of knowledge. Its most admired writers, men like Peter Lombard and Gratian, arranged and shuffled information into order that was accessible and easy to use. Twelfth-century readers loved encyclopedias…Les us then consider book illumination in these terms. It suddenly becomes easy to understand. Initials mark the beginning of books or chapters (PL.85). They make a manuscript easy to use. It helps classify the priorities of the text…A newspaper does this today with headlines of different sizes…any reader of a modern newspaper will fiercely defend his choice of paper by praising the text, not the layout or illustrations. It is not surprising that the twelfth-century chroniclers from St. Albans, Lincoln, and Canterbury complimented the accuracy of manuscripts when what they meant was that they liked using them.

Christopher De Hamel, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts 99.

Cicero on the Sea

How beautiful again is the sea, and how splendid in its entirety, with its crowd and variety of islands, its picturesque coastlines and beaches! It is the home of so many different species of marine life, partly dwelling under water, partly floating and swimming on the surface, and partly encrusted on the rocks with its shells. The sea itself in its longing to embrace the land, sports on its shoreline, so that the two elements seem to merge into one.

Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods, book II

The Article

One of the greatest gifts bequeathed by the Greeks to Western civilization was the article. European intellectual life was profoundly impacted by this gift of clarity.

Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament, 207.