The Worthington advance., 1882-09-28
The Revised New Testament and
Modern Greek.

The Revised New Testament and
Modern Greek.
London Daily News.
DR.. Paspati, the leading archaeologist
of Constantinople, a great authority on
modern Greek, and one who is also well
acquainted with English. has written q
paper on the subject of the Revised
New Testiment from the point of view Of
modern Greek. He contends that many
Of the words in the text of the New Tes-
lament, though not to be found In die
tionaresi Of classical Greek, are still in
ordinary use at the present day, and
with the same Specification they had at
the time the Greek texts were originally
written. He states also that no author
contemporary with any of the writer's Of
the New Testament is 80 near in STYLE
and language to modern Greek as is tho
text Of the New Testament. He suggests
that some, at least, of the difficulties
which the rcvisers have had to deal with
might have been solved had there been
Il reviser we'll acquainted with modern
and medieval a. well as with ancient
Greek.
Some of his corrections are already
known to scholars. He suggests hat no
one acquainted with modern Greek
would think that the passage translated
1T is easier for q camel to pass through
the eye of an needle" etc, meant my
thing else than it is easier for rope or
cable 80 to pass through. The passage
translated ''Let the dead bury their OWE
dead means in the cars ola modern
Greek, Let the wardens or SEXTON
bury their own dead" The guardians
of the temples were called Neokori, the
d.sa dead were ;a Their ps'taa special charge d9ssa
is an abbreviation Of the word
fore thou doest aims sound not a trump
ct before thee, as the hypocrites do IL
synagogues and the streets" The Greek
term translated, "sound trumpet" Il
used commonly in modern Greek in the
sense to proclaim publicly, and might
have been SO rendered. In similar
passage in the sixth chapter, "for they
love to stand and pray in the synag0gues
and in the corner Of the Streets" the
word translated "corne-" means "open
space, ""a space where men congregate,
"a square," and might have been trans
lated lin public squares" The same word
is used in the 18th chapter ofSt Luke, and
is likewise translated "streets"-''go out
quickly into the streets and lanes of the
city" Mention is made in the 18th
chapter of St. Mark of "Mary Magdalen
and Mary the mother of James the Less:
This would have been more ineligible
had it been "young James," In the ed
chapter of St. Luke the passage occurs;
''And the Lord said unto the servant
Go out into the high roads and hedges.'
The word translated 'hedges" means
foreclosures" or fields, from the Greel
verb which signifies ito enclose" II
ye have faith as grain of mustard seed
ye would say unto the sycamine tree,
etc" The word translated '4sycamine"
is very common to-day, and denotes thu
mulberry tree. The Latin translation
has the proper word, morus-the mul
berry tree. Many more examples an
given by DIR. Paspati, but the above vii
serve to give an idea Of the change'
which he contends might have been in
trotluced by bringing the light of moderl
Greek to bear upon the text Of the %
cred writings. lie especially insists up
on the fact that while writer's of the pc
riod when the New Testament was com
piled wrote in classical Greek, the sacret
writer's wrote in the ordinary colioquia
Greek, which has been retained, witt
slight alterations as to the significati0l
! of words, down to the present time.