Re: PROS and Porter
Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Thu, 19 Sep 1996 18:56:17 -0500
At 7:06 PM -0500 9/19/96, Wes.Williams@twcable.com wrote:
> Porter's Idioms develops a section on how PROS ALWAYS has the sense of
> direction towards something, and then applies it to John 1:1 as if
> they were facing one another. His argument is convincing from the
> particular samples he uses, but in considering samples he does NOT
> use, I do not think PROS always has this meaning, nor does it
> necessarily _in itself_ imply a close relationship in light of the
> following samples from each of the other three synoptics [to borrow
> phraseology from the BAPTIZW thread, it is not a "slam dunk"]:
>
> NIV Matthew 13:56 Aren't all his sisters with us?
> UBS4 KAI hAI ADELFAI AUTOU PASAI PROS hHMAS eisin;
>
> NIV Mark 9:19 "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with
> you?
> UBS4 W GENEA APISTOS hEWS POTE PROS hUMAS ESOMAI;
>
> NIV Luke 24:44 "This is what I told you while I was still with you:
> UBS4 hOUTOI hOI LOGOI MOU hOUS ELALHSA PROS hUMAS ETI
>
>
> From where does PROS get the meaning of a generic "with"?
It's not really "with" as such; if you'll pardon my dogged historical
approach to such questions, the fact is that PARA, PRO, and PROS are all
forms of the same elemental IE preoposition/adverb meaning "facing,"
"before," "in front of." I remember wondering, when reading Xenophon's
Anabasis for the first time, why PARA with the ablatival genitive should
mean "from"; of course that's not what it means; rther it means "from the
presence of" as PROS means "in the presence of" or "facing" or
"confronting," while PRO meaans very much what Heb L'FNEI means, "in front
of."
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/