Re: hEAUTOIS

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Tue, 4 Feb 1997 08:18:42 -0600

At 7:48 AM -0600 2/4/97, James H. Vellenga wrote:
>Carl, thanks for your response. But I think I didn't make my
>question clear. I'm wanting to know, if Paul wanted to tell
>Tommy to speak to himself, and Jane to speak to herself, and
>Gerry to speak to him or herself, how would he have done it?
>The idea here is one in which, when my wife is working alone around the
>house or I'm driving alone in the car, we use hymns individually as
>a form of self-encouragement. Would hEAUTOIS be the preferred
>form in that case? Or would he have added a form of PAS, perhaps?
>Or KAQ' hEIS?

NOW I think I do understand you. Apart from the curious theoretical
question regarding whether Paul would have urged anyone to talk or sing to
himself (my wife says that the only way to be sure you get the right
answers is to put the question to yourself), I don't think the manner of
doing it is problematic: I think the SINGULAR imperative, probably in the
3rd sg., would be most appropriate here: hEKASTOS hEAUTWi (/PROS hEAUTON)
LALEITW/AiDETW/DIALEGESQAI; cf. 1 Thess 4:3-4 where the idea is expressed
in an infinitive phrase in vs. 4: (3) TOUTO GAR ESTIN QELHMA TOU QEOU, hO
hAGIASMOS hUMWN, APECESQAI hUMAS APO THS PORNEIAS, (4) EIDENAI hEKASTON
hUMWN TO hEAUTOU SKEUOS KTASQAI EN hAGIASMWi KAI TIMHi ... Note that he's
still addressing everybody and urging everybody in the community to behave
thus, but they are urged to act thus individually.

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/