The PARALLEL with the Semitic need not be disputed; the question, however,
is whether the idiom DERIVES from the Hebrew, and I think the evidence on
this score is simply lacking. Greek has a dative of possession with the
verb EINAI from very early times, as Latin has it with ESSE; my guess is
that it's probably already Proto-Indo-European. And that's why, I think,
Randy's check of our major authorities for NT usage didn't turn up any
references to Semitism where this construction was dealt with.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/