I don't know what it says about me, but I have found a typo in my printed copy of BDF. (It is also in my electronic copy.) Not that I don't doubt there are typos; I just never figured I'd find a typo—in a Greek grammar of all places.

Of course it is in the section of BDF that deals with αλλα. Where else would I find such a thing?

So get out your pencils and get ready to scribble in your own copy (I can't be the only one who does this—correct typos/known errors in printed copies—can I?)

The section in question is §448.4 (p. 233). If you use BDF, you know there is a larger-print section and a smaller-print section for most areas; this is in the smaller-print §448.4.

(4) A simpler form is found in Jn 7:49; 1Co 10:20. In multiple questions (with the answer in each case given or suppressed) Mk 11:8f. = Lk 7:24ff.

The typo is Mk 11:8f; it should be Mt 11:8f. Mt 11.8 has Lk 7.24 as parallel; Mk 11.8 is completely unrelated.

This all goes to show that one must always check all references carefully, particularly if you're doing work for a conference paper, journal or dictionary article, dissertation, or monograph of some sort.

Note: The reference index in BDF (p. 303) is actually correct here, it has Mt 11:8f. pointing to §448.4; there is no reference index entry for Mk 11:8f.

Further note: What is going on with αλλα in Mt 11.7-9 is really cool!

Even further note: Know of other such corrections for BDF? Use the comments to let me know.

There I was, Reading Hermas Mandate 11.xii (that's Hermas 43.12 for those kiddies out there using the 'new' chapter/verse citation system), minding my own business, when I saw it: πολυλαλος.

(12) πρῶτον μὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκεῖνος ὁ δοκῶν πνεῦμα ἔχειν ὑψοῖ ἑαυτὸν καὶ θέλει πρωτοκαθεδρίαν ἔχειν, καὶ εὐθὺς ἰταμός ἐστι καὶ ἀναιδὴς καὶ πολύλαλος καὶ ἐν τρυφαῖς πολλαῖς ἀναστρεφόμενος καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις πολλαῖς ἀπάταις, καὶ μισθοὺς λαμβάνων τῆς προφητείας αὐτοῦ· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ λάβῃ, οὐ προφητεύει. δύναται οὖν πνεῦμα θεῖον μισθοὺς λαμβάνειν καὶ προφητεύειν; οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τοῦτο ποιεῖν θεοῦ προφήτην, ἀλλὰ τῶν τοιούτων προφητῶν ἐπίγειόν ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα.
Holmes, M. W. (1999). The Apostolic Fathers : Greek texts and English translations (Updated ed.) (406). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

(12) In the first place, that man who thinks he has a spirit exalts himself and wants to have a seat of honor, and immediately is arrogant and shameless and talkative and well acquainted with many luxuries and with many other pleasures, and receive money for his prophesying, and if he does not receive money, he does not prophesy. Now, can a divine spirit receive money and still prophesy? It is impossible for a prophet of God to do this, but the spirit of such prophets who do so is earthly.
Holmes, M. W. (1999). The Apostolic Fathers : Greek texts and English translations (Updated ed.) (407). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Here's BDAG:

πολύλαλος, ον (Cleobulus [VI b.c.] in Stob. III p. 112, 3 H.; Ael. Dion. κ, 8; Vi. Aesopi G 26 P.; schol. on Soph., Ant. 324 p. 234 Papag.; Plotinus 6, 2, 21; Job 11:2 Sym.) engaged in much purposeless talk, talkative, garrulous w. ἀναιδής Hm 11:12. VandeSande Bakhuyzen suspects that πολύλαλοι was once read Js 3:1 for πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι (B-D-F §115, 1).—DELG s.v. λαλέω. (BDAG 847)

Heck, maybe we should be ΠΟΛΥΛΑΛΟΙ instead of bibliobloggers, bibiliabloggers, or biblicabloggers.

Of course, the following entry in BDAG might actually be be better name for a blog: πολυλογια

πολυλογία, ας, ἡ (X., Cyr. 1, 4, 3; Pla., Leg. 1, 641e; Plut., Mor. 6c; 519c; Vett. Val. 108, 8; 23; Herm. Wr. 14, 5; Sextus 155; Pr 10:19) speech of tedious length, much speaking, wordiness, long-windedness ἐν τῇ π. αὐτῶν with their many words Mt 6:7; Lk 11:2 D (Ael. Aristid. 45, 8 K.=8 p. 85 D.: θεοὺς ἄνευ μέτρων προσαγορεύοντες οὐκ αἰσχυνόμεθα=we are not ashamed of addressing gods without mantras/incantations).—DELG s.v. λέγω B. M-M. TW. (BDAG 847)

If I ever decide to change from the very boring "ricoblog" title (sorta invested in it now, I guess) then I'd seriously consider one of these.

Yay, someone else has actually blogged about the Shepherd of Hermas!

Check out Peter Head's notes on available MSS of the Shepherd. Worth repeating is his closing remark:

In terms of manuscript attestation and patristic appreciation the evidence looks better than large parts of the New Testament.

Voces Biblicae: Septuagint Greek and its Significance for the New Testament (amazon.com) by J. Joosten and P.J. Tomson (Editors)

Here's the description:

During the Renaissance period, when the Greek texts of the Bible became accessible again to Western scholars, a large number of words were identified that seemed to be attested only in the Septuagint and New Testament: the famous voces biblicae, "biblical words". They were held by some to reflect a special kind of Jewish Greek, or perhaps even a peculiar Greek idiom created by the Holy Spirit in order to express the unspeakable mysteries of God's grace. Today, scholars usually prefer more down-to-earth explanations. Moreover, the list of voces biblicae has been much shortened because many words that were initially found only in the Bible later turned up in the papyri. Nevertheless, the "biblical words" continue to fascinate. The present volume contains seven essays illuminating different aspects of the vocabulary of the Greek Bible.

There I was, working through Kirsopp Lake's Greek and translation of the Shepherd of Hermas, and I came across Mandates V.ii.4:

4 ἡ δὲ ὀξυχολία
   πρῶτον μὲν μωρά ἐστιν,
   ἐλαφρά τε καὶ ἄφρων.
   εἶτα ἐκ τῆς ἀφροσύνης γίνεται πικρία,
      ἐκ δὲ τῆς πικρίας θυμός,
      ἐκ δὲ τοῦ θυμοῦ ὀργή,
      ἐκ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς μῆνις·
   εἶτα ἡ μῆνις αὕτη·
      ἐκ τοσούτων κακῶν συνισταμένη·
         γίνεται ἁμαρτία μεγάλη καὶ ἀνίατος.
     (Hermas 34.4 || Mandates V.ii.4, Lake's Greek)

4 But ill temper
   is first foolish,
   frivolous, and silly;
   then from silliness comes bitterness,
      from bitterness wrath,
      from wrath rage,
       and from rage fury;
   then fury,
      being compounded of such great evils,
         becomes great and inexpiable sin.
      (Hermas 34.4 || Mandates V.ii.4, Lake's English)

Upon seeing ἀνίατος translated as "inexpiable", I thought to myself, "now that's a word to remember." The Greek word is from ἰάομαι (alpha privative) and glossed generally as "incurable" in BDAG; BDAG offers a specific translation of this passage as "unforgivable". I don't like "unforgivable" here because the author of Hermas uses terms like forgiveness a whole lot. If he specifically meant "unforgivable", then he had an ample lexicon to produce that. But he didn't. He wrote ἀνίατος.

I like Lake's take on it. Holmes translates the same as BDAG's gloss, "incurable", and that matches up with LSJ. But I still like "inexpiable". To think about something as "unable to be expiated" brings the seriousness of it into play, much more so than works like "unforgivable" (which is accurate of the result). A translation like "incurable" makes it sound like more of a malady. I think "inexpiable" threads the needle between those two, and is simply a cool word to boot.

Score one for Kirsopp Lake. FWIW, I generally find Holmes' translation better and more readable, but Lake has enough gems that it is well worth considering. And in most books, Lake tends to be less idiomatic and more "literal" (whatever that means), so it is easier to use as a check when working through the Greek.

From Richard Young's Intermediate New Testament Greek: A Linguistic and Exegetical Approach (amazon.com), available in print (amazon.com) and also in Logos format.

Do not insist on classical distinctions—As noted above, Hellenistic Greek is not characterized by the strict usage of classical Greek. The preposition ἐν, for example, displays a wide variety of meanings beyond its root idea, much of which comes from Semitic influence. One of the major shortcomings of Lenski’s commentaries is his tendency to insist on the classical meaning of ἐν. Moule (1968:49) states, “It is a mistake to build exegetical conclusions on the notion that Classical accuracy in the use of prepositions was maintained in the κοινή period.” In connection with this, it might be misleading to say any preposition (especially ἐν) has a literal or proper meaning. Rather prepositions have a range of possible meanings with some more common than others.
Young, R. A. (1994). Intermediate New Testament Greek : A linguistic and exegetical approach (amazon.com) (86). Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman & Holman.

This is from Robertson's introduction to the first edition of W.H. Davis' Beginner's Grammar of the Greek New Testament (newly revised by Dr. David Shackleford and published in print by Wipf & Stock and available electronically in Logos Bible Software). Robertson wrote the forward to the first edition for his former student and friend, William Hersey Davis.

If one gets it into his head that the root idea of tense is time, he may never get it out and he will therefore never understand the beauty of the Greek tense, the most wonderful development in the history of language. (Davis, vii)

The idea that time is not the "root idea" of Greek tense is not new. The above is dated back to 1923.

I suppose it's the degree to which time plays a role in tense is what Porter, Fanning, McKay, Decker, Campbell, Silva, Caragounis, et. al. are bickering about.