help me with YALLW
Larry Noble (lanoble@texramp.net)
Thu, 21 May 1998 18:52:14 -0500
I ran across this group's archives last night and spent the better part
of the evening scrolling through messages. I was hoping to find some
posts that addressed the word YALLW (psallo, just in case I'm not using
the correct caps, here). This may not sound like a word to get very
excited about, but it has caused me a lot of consternation (mainly
because, unlike all you folks in this group, I am functionally
illiterate when it comes to greek).
My question is this: does anyone know of a good reason for why New
Testament translators have consistently translated this word as "sing"
or as in Eph 5:19 "make melody" instead of giving it the harp-playing
denotation that it seems to have? I know that several lexicographers
say that in the New Testemant this (sing) is what it meant, but they
give no evidence for it. If none exists (of a contextual nature, within
scripture) and if secular documents of the period use it in the
string-plucking sense it always seemed to have, then how did we end up
with it in our english versions as always suggesting purely vocal music?
Any thoughts?