Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

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Archimedes
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Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by Archimedes »

Leviticus 20:11a reads qui dormierit cum noverca sua, usually translated "if a man sleeps with his stepmother," whereas 12a reads si quis dormierit cum nuru sua, usually translated "if a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law." I take dormierit to be a perfect subjunctive although the form could also be future perfect indicative. My question is why one verse begins qui dormerit and the other si quis dormierit. Is this simply a stylistic variation or is there some nuance that is being communicated?

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calvinist
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Re: Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by calvinist »

I would say it is merely stylistic variation. There are many ways to say the same thing in languages, that is a good thing because it prevents boredom and makes things like poetry and good prose possible. Markos, one of the members here, uses the term "semantic maximalist" I believe to describe the idea that any slight difference in wording has some different shade of meaning. I agree with him that such an approach to language is unnatural and overly analytical. Many times authors will vary constructions to prevent monotony especially when a number of the same constructions would occur sequentially. For instance in English:

We went to the mall. Then after going to the supermarket, we stopped by the auto store. After that, we decided to go to a restaurant to eat.

Would be preferable to:

We went to the mall. Then we went to the supermarket. Then we went to the auto store. Then we went to a restaurant to eat.

Seeing some nuance in the different constructions is missing the point. The difference is to prevent monotony, i.e. it's stylistic.

msfonsecajr
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Re: Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by msfonsecajr »

Dear Mr. Archimedes,

The whole point is that sleeping with one`s mother brings about the serious problem of recessive genes for diseases being duplicated and thus producing sick babies. And even if the mother is a stepmother, it would be like sharing the same underwear with ones father, which is psychologically sick.

The form dormierit is the same in both verses. I`m afraid your Bible is wrong.

Best regards.

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calvinist
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Re: Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by calvinist »

msfonsecajr wrote:Dear Mr. Archimedes,

The whole point is that sleeping with one`s mother brings about the serious problem of recessive genes for diseases being duplicated and thus producing sick babies. And even if the mother is a stepmother, it would be like sharing the same underwear with ones father, which is psychologically sick.

The form dormierit is the same in both verses. I`m afraid your Bible is wrong.

Best regards.
I think that dormerit (which is not Latin) was just a typo. He was asking why one starts out qui dormierit and the other si quis dormierit. English would be: "Whoever sleeps with..." and "If someone sleeps with..." just two ways of saying the same thing.

Archimedes
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Re: Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by Archimedes »

calvinist wrote:I think that dormerit (which is not Latin) was just a typo.

It was indeed a typo; and thanks again.

Archimedes
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Re: Leviticus 20:11a, 12a

Post by Archimedes »

msfonsecajr wrote:The whole point is that sleeping with one`s mother brings about the serious problem of recessive genes for diseases being duplicated and thus producing sick babies. And even if the mother is a stepmother, it would be like sharing the same underwear with ones father, which is psychologically sick.
I'd like your learned opinion on Leviticus 20:15 (which thread see below).

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