I will check on this when I get to my office reference works, but I do have
the remarks of Louw-Nida, which you may not have seen as yet:
"#68.5: begin an activity with special emphasis upon the inception or
possibly the suddenness with which the event takes place -- 'to begin.'
EPIBALWN EKLAIEN 'he began to cry' Mk 14.72. It would also be possible to
understand EPIBALLW in Mk 14.72 as meaning 'when he thought of it' or 'when
he reflected on it' (see #30.7)." I've checked #30.7 and it doesn't really
give any more information than this; one senses that we are being offered
speculation here regarding a rather inadequately explained or unparalleled
usage.
One thing I'd like to check on is possible use of this verb in the LXX to
represent a Hebrew verb used as an auxiliary -- I have a somewhat vague
memory of having seen it in the Joseph narrative in Genesis. I'll try to
follow up on this. I have my doubts as to explanation from classical usage.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/