At 06:32 AM 11/2/97 -0500, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 11:12 PM 11/1/97 -0500, B Rocine wrote:
>
>>Is the Gk noun ERWS conspicuous in its absence from the NT? One reason I
>>ask is because I do not have the experience or tools necessary to tell if
>>the word was in common use at the time the NT was penned.
>
>Re: Erws
>
>At least in Homer, ERWS can mean to lust after, to desire. In Homer's Iliad,
>3.442, ERWS is used like this:
>
>"But come, let us take our joy, couched together in love; for never yet hath
>desire (ERWS) so encompassed my soul--nay, not when at the first I snatched
>thee from lovely Lacedaemon and sailed with thee on my seafaring ships..."
>
(snip)
Thank you for your response. Pardon my ignorance: Does the use of the word
ERWS in Homer mean it was current in NT times because the NT society was
reading Homer, written +/- 800 years prior?
>Re: Some amazing search tools
>
>I would like to point out some of the amazing tools that you DO have access
>to. If you have access to the web, you can see how common a word is in the
>classical texts of the Perseus library. Go to:
>
>"http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/searches.html"
>
(snip)
I had used Perseus prior to writing my post to b-greek, but I did not see
any citations for ERWS from sources younger than 3-400 years at the time of
the NT. Hence my question. But at your prompting I went back to Perseus
with another idea, so thank you. I looked for uses of ERWS in Plutarch(ca.
1st-2nd cent C.E.) He used the word in the general sense of love and
affection, as in describing the love between Socrates and a devoted student.
So am I correct in concluding the word was indeed in use at the time the NT
was written?
And my real interest once again: Is the word ERWS conspicuous in its
absence from the NT?
Bryan