Preposition – ἀνά + Accusative

ObjectivesLearning objectives

The semantics of the preposition ἀνά

VocabularyVocabulary

Greek	Gloss	Part of speech	Paradigm
ἡ κλείς, κλειδός	the key	noun	B.a.γ.iv
ἡ πτέρυξ, -υγος	the wing	noun	B.a.γ.ii
ἡ νομή, -ῆς	the pasturage	noun	B.a.α.i
δύναμαι ποιεῖν	(I) am able to do	verb	C.a.α
ἐπιγινώσκω τινά	(I) know about something/one (acc)	verb	C.a.στ
ἐπαίρω τι	(I) lift something (acc)	verb	C.a.ι

Noteδύναμαι

The verb δύναμαι has two special morphological characteristics. First, the α normally replaces the theme vowel in the medio-passive Luo forms, i.e. δύναμαι and not *δύνομαι. In addition, the 2s normally appears with the long form δύνασαι, but the shortened δύνῃ is also possible. Secondly, the verb appears in the past either in the medio-passive Eluon form ἐδυνάμην or in the passive Aorist ἐδυνήθην. In both forms, the augment alternates between ε and η with no strict pattern.

SemanticsSemantics: Prep - ἀνά + accusative

The preposition ἀνά typically means ‘each’ or ‘apiece,’ which we call the distributive reading. When Jesus tells the parable about an owner who gives all his workers a denarius (even those who went out late), the distributive sense is found:

Example 237Distributive

ἔλαβον ἀνὰ δηνάριον (Matt 20:9)

NoteThey received a denarius apiece

A similar use is found with numbers where the number specifies the amount of individuals in a group:

Example 238Amount per group

ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς ἀνὰ δύο (Luke 10:1)

He sent them out by twos

In addition to these two uses, ἀνά is also used with μέσον to refer to the middle of something or a location in the midst or between something:

Example 239In the middle of something

His enemy sowed weeds ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σίτου [in the middle of the wheat] (Matt 13:25)

These uses are the typical uses found in the NT, but ἀνά may have a different meaning when it combines with verbs. The opposite of καταβαίνω ‘go down’ is ἀναβαίνω ‘go up.’ The meaning of ‘up’ was the original meaning of ἀνά, but this use eventually drops out of the standalone preposition, though it is still found commonly in verbs.

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