Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Summer Trivia: The Longest Word
The longest word I could find in the Greek Scriptures is συγκατακληρονομηθησονται, 24 letters long and found in Numbers 32:30. The longest word in the NT is found in Acts 10:41 προκεχειροτονημενοις, closely followed by καταδυναστευομενους only three verses earlier and δεισιδαιμονεστερους in Acts 17:22.
Still in the NT, if we take the 8 longest words (all 18 letters up), we find one of them in Paul's named letters, five in Luke's corpus, and two in Hebrews. Therefore, the argument is incontrovertible and mathematically secure that Luke wrote Hebrews under the direction of Paul.
The only and obvious weak spot is of course Revelation 14:1 where one could possibly read τεσσερακοντατεσσαρες as a single word.
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The most troubling word here is the first one: "summer". It doesn't seem to have started yet (tonight I lit a fire to warm up the house).
ReplyDeleteCome and visit us over here in the US, Dr Head. We'll warm you up....guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteThat's why Hebrew is so much easier :-). Longest word: לְמִשְׁפְּחֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם 'according to their families' (Gen 8:19) at just nine letters.
ReplyDeleteThe best I can come up with is συμπεριενεχθήσεσθαι (19 letters) from 2 Mac. 9:27. Still searching! :)
ReplyDeleteI think the Revelation is out of question; John must have used numerical abbreviations (it's in P47, I believe it rama rama ding ding)
ReplyDeleteDutch humor always escapes me :)
ReplyDeleteYes, well Josephus has more long words than Luke or Paul: seven longer than Acts 10:41 προκεχειροτονημένοις...
ReplyDeleteI always wondered what I would do if I had summers off from work. Probably the same. Wow.
ReplyDelete