In Greek, how many is many, please?
Does POLLOI in the opening sentence of Luke's gospel mean more than two?
Or could it refer to two only - Mark and Matthew?
Are there any instances in Greek of POLLOI meaning only two?
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In his commentary to Eu.Luc., J.A. Fitzmyer remarks that *polloi/*
is a common rhetorical figure, and quotes "Ep.Heb."1.1, "Act.Ap."24.2, 10,
"Eu.Io."20.30, and refers for more literature (non vidi) to H.J. Cadbury,
"The beginnings of Christianity" vol. 2 p. 492 and J. Bauer (I think B.
Willson will find this item interesting) "Polloi Luk 1.1", *NT*, 4 (1960)
pp. 263-266. [Then goes on trying to identify the *polloi/* in "Mc", "L",
etc.]
P. de Lagarde wrote a note comparing the proemius of "Eu.Luc." with
that of Dioscorides "de Materia medica":
Pollw=n ou) mo/non a)rxai/wn a)lla\ kai\ ne/wn suntacame/nwn peri\
th=s tw=n
farma/kwn skeuasi/as te kai\ duna/mews kai\ dokimasi/as, fi/ltate
)/Areie,
peira/somai parasth=sai/ soi mh\ kenh\n mhde\ a)/logon o(rmh\n
e)sxhke/nai me
pro\s th/nde th\n pragmatei/an dia\ to\ tou\s me\n au)tw=n mh\
teteleiwke/nai,
tou\s de\ e)c i(stori/as ta\ plei=sta a)nagra/yai.
I am sure I am not the first one to find great similarities between
the initial sentence of Eu.Luc. and the very beginning of the Hippocratic
treatise "de Prisca Medicina" (note: not polloi/ but o(ko/soi)
o(ko/soi e)pexei/rhsan peri\ i)htrikh=s le/gein h)\ gra/fein,
u(po/qesin
sfi/sin au)te/oisin u(poqe/menoi tw=| lo/gw| ktl.
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Daniel Rian~o Rufilanchas
c. Santa Engracia 52, 7 dcha.
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Espan~a
e-mail: danielrr@mad.servicom.es