"to take" in Greek

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jaihare
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"to take" in Greek

Post by jaihare »

I have trouble with the distinctions between these verbs:

αἱρῶ (-έω) "take (away)"
δέχομαι "receive"
λαμβάνω "take"

I assume that δέχεσθαι has more to do with receiving what someone offers you - a gift or even a visitation from a guest. I assume αἱρεῖν means more to take away, like when Rome destroyed Jerusalem they took away the temple. And I assume that λαμβάνειν refers to taking something to hand.

We had the discussion about παραλαβεῖν vs. ἀγαγεῖν recently, and I thought this might be interesting to discuss, given that δέχεσθαι is given as a vocabulary word in this section of Athenaze (that is, section 6α). Does anyone have any corrections or examples? Things to add on this topic?

Thanks!

Ἰάσων
Last edited by jaihare on Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Vladimir
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by Vladimir »

To say "take away" you can also use αἴρω. Besides, in the byzantine period the difference btween αἱρῶ and αἴρω almost disappeared.

C. S. Bartholomew
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

jaihare wrote:I have trouble with the distinctions between these verbs:

αἰρῶ (-έω) "take (away)"
In the New Testament αἰρῶ is frequently associated with violence:
L&N
15.203 αἴρωa; ἀναλαμβάνωa: to lift up and carry (away) — ‘to carry (away), to carry off, to remove, to take (away).’
αἴρωa: οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦλθον καὶ ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθηκαν αὐτὸ ἐν μνημείῳ ‘his disciples came, took his body, and placed it in a tomb’ Mk 6:29; ἄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθεν ‘take these away from here’ Jn 2:16; οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕως ἦλθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ ἦρεν ἅπαντας ‘yet they didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and carried them all away’ Mt 24:39.
ἀναλαμβάνωa: ἀνελάβετε τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μόλοχ ‘it was the tent of the god Moloch that you carried’ Ac 7:43.

20.43 αἴρωb: to destroy, with the implication of removal and doing away with — ‘to destroy, to do away with.’ ἐλεύσονται οἱ Ρωμαῖοι καὶ ἀροῦσιν ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸ ἔθνος ‘the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple (literally ‘our place’) and our nation’ Jn 11:48.

20.65 αἴρωc; θανατόωa; ἀπάγωc: to deprive a person of life, with the implication of this being the result of condemnation by legal or quasi-legal procedures — ‘to kill, to execute.’
αἴρωc: ἀνέκραγον δὲ παμπληθεὶ λέγοντες, Αἶρε τοῦτον ‘the whole crowd cried out, Kill him’ Lk 23:18.
θανατόωa: ὡς παιδευόμενοι, καὶ μὴ θανατούμενοι ‘although punished, we are not killed’ 2Cor 6:9.
ἀπάγωc: τοὺς φύλακας ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι ‘he commanded the guards to be executed’ Ac 12:19. For another interpretation of ἀπάγω in Ac 12:19, see 56.38.
15.203 αἴρωa; ἀναλαμβάνωa: to lift up and carry (away) — ‘to carry (away), to carry off, to remove, to take (away).’
αἴρωa: οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦλθον καὶ ἦραν τὸ πτῶμα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔθηκαν αὐτὸ ἐν μνημείῳ ‘his disciples came, took his body, and placed it in a tomb’ Mk 6:29; ἄρατε ταῦτα ἐντεῦθεν ‘take these away from here’ Jn 2:16; οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕως ἦλθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς καὶ ἦρεν ἅπαντας ‘yet they didn’t know what was happening until the flood came and carried them all away’ Mt 24:39.
ἀναλαμβάνωa: ἀνελάβετε τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μόλοχ ‘it was the tent of the god Moloch that you carried’ Ac 7:43.

20.43 αἴρωb: to destroy, with the implication of removal and doing away with — ‘to destroy, to do away with.’ ἐλεύσονται οἱ Ρωμαῖοι καὶ ἀροῦσιν ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν τόπον καὶ τὸ ἔθνος ‘the Roman authorities will take action and destroy our Temple (literally ‘our place’) and our nation’ Jn 11:48.

20.65 αἴρωc; θανατόωa; ἀπάγωc: to deprive a person of life, with the implication of this being the result of condemnation by legal or quasi-legal procedures — ‘to kill, to execute.’
αἴρωc: ἀνέκραγον δὲ παμπληθεὶ λέγοντες, Αἶρε τοῦτον ‘the whole crowd cried out, Kill him’ Lk 23:18.
θανατόωa: ὡς παιδευόμενοι, καὶ μὴ θανατούμενοι ‘although punished, we are not killed’ 2Cor 6:9.
ἀπάγωc: τοὺς φύλακας ἐκέλευσεν ἀπαχθῆναι ‘he commanded the guards to be executed’ Ac 12:19. For another interpretation of ἀπάγω in Ac 12:19, see 56.38.
C. Stirling Bartholomew

mwh
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by mwh »

A few quick notes.

Don’t forget αἱρῶ (-έω) has rough breathing. Not to be confused with αἴρω (contracted from ἀείρω) “lift up,” “raise.” So it will help to take note of accent as well as breathing. [See PS]
αἱρῶ “take,” “get,” “win,” “grasp”
αἱροῦμαι middle “take for oneself,” i.e. “choose,” “prefer.”

αἱρῶ uses a different verb for its aorist: εἷλον, stem ἑλ-.

λαμβάνω is a more general word than the other two, can overlap with them and can cover an even wider range of meanings.

All three have many compounds, e.g. αφαιρῶ take away, καθαιρῶ destroy; αποδέχομαι accept, ὑποδέχομαι receive as a guest, entertain. The various compounds may help make the distinctions clearer.

Remember most Greek verbs don’t have perfect or consistent one-on-one correspondence with their English “equivalents” or translations. Think more in terms of semantic fields.

Made-up examples:
αἱρῶ: τὸ παιδίον βίᾳ ᾕρουν. They were taking/seizing/making off with the child by force.
λαμβάνω: πάντα ἔλαβον, οὐδ’ ἔλιπον οὐδέν. They took everything, and didn’t leave a thing.
δέχομαι: τὴν ἐπιστολήν σου χθὲς ἐδεξάμην I received/got your letter yesterday.

And then of course there’s ἄγω “lead,” κομίζω “convey,” φέρω “carry,” all of which might be translated “take" in suitable circumstances.

PS Note that what C.S. Bartholοmew gives are examples of αἴρω, not αἱρῶ (-έω) (and NT, as he notes, not Attic).

C. S. Bartholomew
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by C. S. Bartholomew »

αἱρέω (rough breathing) in the New Testament only appears in middle and has a different meaning:
L&N

30.86 ἐκλέγομαιa; αἱρέομαιa; λαμβάνωe: to make a choice of one or more possible alternatives — ‘to choose, to select, to prefer.’
ἐκλέγομαιa: ἐντειλάμενος τοῖς ἀποστόλοις διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου οὓς ἐξελέξατο ‘he gave instructions by the power of the Holy Spirit to the men whom he had chosen as his apostles’ Ac 1:2; οὐχ ὁ θεὸς ἐξελέξατο τοὺς πτωχοὺς τῷ κόσμῳ; ‘has not God chosen the poor in this world?’ Jas 2:5.
αἱρέομαιa: τί αἱρήσομαι οὐ γνωρίζω ‘I do not know which I should prefer’ Php 1:22; μᾶλλον ἑλόμενος συγκακουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν ‘he chose to suffer with God’s people rather than enjoy sin for a little while’ He 11:25.
λαμβάνωe: πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερεὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται τὰ πρὸς τὸν θεόν ‘every high priest is chosen from his fellowmen and appointed to serve God on their behalf’ He 5:1. It is also possible to interpret λαμβάνω in He 5:1 as meaning ‘to acquire, to obtain’ (see λαμβάνωb, 57.55).
In a number of languages the choice of terms or expressions for ‘choosing’ or ‘selecting’ often depends upon either (1) what is chosen or selected or (2) the purpose for such a choice, for example, personal pleasure, rational evaluation, or outright prejudice.

30.91 αἱρέομαιb; αἱρετίζω: to choose or select for the purpose of showing special favor to or concern for — ‘to choose, to select.’
αἱρέομαιb: εἵλατο ὑμᾶς ὁ θεὸς ἀπαρχὴν εἰς σωτηρίαν ‘God chose you as the first to be saved’ 2Th 2:13.
αἱρετίζω: ἰδοὺ ὁ παῖς μου ὃν ᾑρέτισα ‘here is my servant, whom I have chosen’ Mt 12:18.


A quick glance at Danker's 3rd ed. αἰρῶ (smooth breathing) seems to suggest that αἰρῶ has gobbled up the semantic domain of αἱρέω in regard to "take" without any element of lifting up. L&N doesn't seem to support that.
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mwh
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by mwh »

Yes NT retains the classical meaning of αἱρῶ(-εω) in the middle ("choose, prefer," as mentioned in my post). If the active doesn't occur there, I don't think that gives reason to postulate a merger with αἴρω, a different verb. All the NT instances of αἴρω clearly belong to that verb, both in form and in meaning; there’s no assimilation of αἱρῶ (pace Danker?, or is that your own inference?). Non-NT koine keeps them separate too. But in any case this thread seemed to be directed towards Attic Greek, as in Athenaze, and we shouldn’t go muddying the waters.

There’s αἱρῶ(<έω) and there’s αἴρω. Whether or not there’s eventual semantic collapse, with αἱρῶ submerged under αἴρω (and I see no evidence of that in NT), they are two different verbs, each with its own forms. Once you get out of the present tense, they look quite different.

There's no such verb as αἰρῶ. You put it in both your posts, but I assume what you meant was αἴρω — a most unfortunate slip, since it creates the very confusion I was anxious to avert. Or does Danker really give αἰρῶ?!
(In Jason's original post, quickly corrected, αἰρῶ was an obvious typo for αἱρῶ — these pesky breathings!)

I warned against confusing αἱρῶ (rough breathing, circumflex accent) with αἴρω (smooth breathing, acute accent). I think it’s a warning that bears repeating.

Vladimir
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Re: "to take" in Greek

Post by Vladimir »

Here's what writes Louis Doederlein in his Handbook of the Latin Synonymy (he draws a parallel to Greek words):

"Sumere, to take an object in order to use it, like αἱρεῖν; capere, to grab st. in order to possess it, like λαβεῖν... Accipere, to receive what they offer us, δέχεσθαι, it is done eagerly..."

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