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+IҺSЧS-XRISTЧS-ЬASILЄ-ЬASILЄ Byz help please
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<p>[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 2989611, member: 83956"]You’re right, the phrase reads, “Jesus Christ, King of Kings,” but working out the grammar of the last two words is a bit problematic. Hopefully some better linguists than I will weigh in. But here’s my stab at it.</p><p><br /></p><p>The linguistic formula “X of Y” (e.g., “Holy of Holies”; “King of Kings”) is sometimes called the “Hebrew Superlative” since it is used in the Bible. It’s perhaps more commonly called the “Superlative Genitive,” because the second word of such a linguistic formula will be in the genitive case. (In inflected languages such as Latin and Greek, grammatical information is not conveyed so much by word order as by word forms, such as suffixes.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I might attempt to expand the legend as “IHSUS CHRISTUS, BASILEUS BASILEORUM,” with <i>basileorum</i> being my guess as to what <i>basileus</i> would be in the genitive plural–“of kings.”</p><p><br /></p><p>The problem with <i>basileus</i>, as Valiant Knight has pointed out, is that it is a Greek word and thus uncommon in Latin, with <i>rex</i> being the preferred term for <i>king</i>. I have, however, found an attested genitive use of <i>basileorum</i> in the phrase “basileorum urbe,” or the “City of the Kings.”</p><p><br /></p><p>So that’s my guess as to the grammar here: IHSUS CHRISTUS, BASILEUS BASILEORUM; “JESUS CHRIST, KING [OF] KINGS.”</p><p><br /></p><p>Now I will wait for a specialist to reply and embarrass me.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Gavin Richardson, post: 2989611, member: 83956"]You’re right, the phrase reads, “Jesus Christ, King of Kings,” but working out the grammar of the last two words is a bit problematic. Hopefully some better linguists than I will weigh in. But here’s my stab at it. The linguistic formula “X of Y” (e.g., “Holy of Holies”; “King of Kings”) is sometimes called the “Hebrew Superlative” since it is used in the Bible. It’s perhaps more commonly called the “Superlative Genitive,” because the second word of such a linguistic formula will be in the genitive case. (In inflected languages such as Latin and Greek, grammatical information is not conveyed so much by word order as by word forms, such as suffixes.) I might attempt to expand the legend as “IHSUS CHRISTUS, BASILEUS BASILEORUM,” with [I]basileorum[/I] being my guess as to what [I]basileus[/I] would be in the genitive plural–“of kings.” The problem with [I]basileus[/I], as Valiant Knight has pointed out, is that it is a Greek word and thus uncommon in Latin, with [I]rex[/I] being the preferred term for [I]king[/I]. I have, however, found an attested genitive use of [I]basileorum[/I] in the phrase “basileorum urbe,” or the “City of the Kings.” So that’s my guess as to the grammar here: IHSUS CHRISTUS, BASILEUS BASILEORUM; “JESUS CHRIST, KING [OF] KINGS.” Now I will wait for a specialist to reply and embarrass me.[/QUOTE]
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+IҺSЧS-XRISTЧS-ЬASILЄ-ЬASILЄ Byz help please
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