I'm really surprised nobody has responded. I talked with someone the other
day who agreed with Zerwick that this is a semitism, but I wasn't clear
enough on the details to post anything.
Robertson's commentary on Luke 7:7 sees this as an instrumental dative:
"speak with a word". I found the phrase EIPE LOGW in only two places, the
two you cite, and both are accounts of the Centurion. In the authority
structure the Centurion describes, what we English speakers call "giving the
word" makes sense, so I also wonder whether this might be a military usage.
Thoughts?
Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________
Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com
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