The Harpagmos Enigma

A Philological Solution

Bibliographic Data

ID9383095
AuthorsRoy W Hoover (Whitman College, corresponding author)
Year1971
Volume64
Issue1
Pages95-119
Publication date1971-01-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHarvard Theological Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0017-8160 • E-ISSN: 1475-4517
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0017816000018058
OpenAlexW2118321640
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited2

Modern discussion of the enigmatic οὐχ ⋯ρπαγμ⋯ν ⋯γ⋯σατο τ⋯ εἶναι ἶσα θεῷ of Phil. 2:6 received its most significant contribution from Werner Jaeger in a notable article published half a century ago. Jaeger contended that this much-disputed phrase belongs to a cluster of idiomatic expressions in which literal notions of robbery or violent seizure are not present. These idiomatic expressions feature double accusative constructions in which ἃρπαγμα as well as ἒρμαιον, εὔρημα and εὐτύχημα regularly appear with such verbs as ⋯γείσθαι, ποιείσθαι and τίθεσθαι with the meaning, ”to regard something as a stroke of luck, a windfall, a piece of good fortune,” etc.2 When it occurs in such a construction ἃρπαγμα is to be understood as a synonym of the above-mentioned nouns (”Studie,” pp. 548-49)—a judgment which Jaeger believed is most patently indicated in Heliodorus, Aethiopica VII.20, since there both ἅρπαγμα and ⋯ρμαιον occur in the same phrase: οὐχ ἃραγμα οὐδ⋯ ἒρμαιον ποιείται τ⋯ πράγμα

Art · Epistemology · Feature (linguistics · Linguistics · Literal (mathematical logic · Literature · Luck · Meaning (existential · Philology · Phrase · Sociology · Synonym (taxonomy · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Philosophy

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