I hate to trouble you with such simple stuff, but I’m trying to make a flash card for the word πρᾶγμα in its sense meaning ‘affair’. Naturally this is not easy, as ‘affair’ is rather abstract and so finding an image to unambiguously represent the concept is next to impossible. Realising this, I decided I would embed the word within a sentence which could then accompany the rather lively depiction of Greek murder which I found in the form of a vase painting: at least, I think it’s an instance of murder being depicted, it looks quite murderous - sorry if this sounds silly, it’s just that my knowledge of Greek myth is somewhat incomplete at this stage so it could be an exotic form of execution for all I know! - http://www.romankrznaric.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Ancient-greek-violence.jpg
So, I wanted a sentence which would mean “an affair of/involving murder is the responsibility of the areopagus”, not ideal I know, but it will do the job. So, anyway, I came up with this -
DISCLAIMER
[Please look kindly on me if I have absolutely butchered Greek grammar, or misused Greek vocabulary here!]
πρᾶγμα τοῦ φόνου αἰτίᾱ τοῦ Ἀρείου Πάγου ἐστίν
I would be very much obliged if somebody on this forum whose Greek is better than mine might point out any errors with this! Thanks in advance!
The base meaning of πρᾶγμα is deed. The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (which I urge you to get) lists “deed, action, act”. And specifically draws attention to its opposition to words.
Your English sentence really means “It is the responsibility of the Areopagus to try murder cases” which can be perfectly well translated without the need for “πρᾶγμα”. The problem apart from the grammar in your sentence is that you have started from an English sentence which uses “affair” in an abstract way. Greek (almost) always prefers concrete expressions. So Herodotus talks about the “business of war”. “Business of murder” doesnt have quite the same meaning.
Rather than fixate on “affair” as a meaning stick with deed or business. If you look at unit 6 sentence 9 In Greek An intensive Course p. 159 you have an example which you could use. Or simply remember it as “deeds not words”.
If you really want to remember affairs perhaps you could use this example from the Brill dictionary:
τά τής πόλεως πράγματα = τά πολιτικά πράγματα public affairs, the affairs of state, political activity
Thank you for your very lucid and detailed explanation, I’m much obliged! I don’t know why I didn’t think of checking my textbook for examples… this will definitely be my first port of call henceforth, before I consider resorting to the kind folks on this forum. Thanks again!
“A matter of murder” would be δικη φονου. A murder case or a murder trial.
αι δικαι φονου εν Αρειωι παγωι δικαζονται – something like that, maybe. But I don’t think πραγμα would be used in that sense.
Aristotle records that murder cases (φόνου δίκαι) are held on the Areopagus: εἰσὶ δὲ φόνου δίκαι καὶ τραύματος, ἂν μὲν ἐκ προνοίας ἀποκτείνῃ ἢ τρώσῃ, ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ. (“Trials for deliberate murder and wounding are held in the Areopagus.”) As Seneca and Hylander point out, πρᾶγμα is not really a suitable word here, and πρᾶγμα τοῦ φόνου is an unlikely phrase.
Greek reflects the “concrete/abstract” distinction in its morphology: neuter nouns in -μα are concrete, feminine ones in -σις (or -ξις) are abstract. So a πρᾶγμα is concrete (a thing done), πρᾶξις abstract (doing, as an activity). This is neatly illustrated by ποίημα “a poem” vs. ποίησις “poetry." The conceptual distinction is built in to the form of the word, and it’s impossible for πρᾶγμα to be used abstractly; τὰ πράγματα always refers to actual deeds.
One more small point, though not relevant to the πραγμα question. Αρειος παγος is a place, not a deliberative body (though in English we might use it that way), as the sentence quoted by mwh from Aristotle illustrates. The term for the deliberative body would be η εν Αρειωι παγωι βουλη, I believe.
A sharp distinction [EDIT: this particular sharp distinction] between πρᾶγμα versus πρᾶξις seems contradicted by the LSJ’s statement that πρᾶγμα is “the concrete of πρᾶξις, but freq. approaching to the abstract sense”.
Specifically, there is a line in Aristophanes’ Wealth:
ἐν τῇ σορῷ νυνὶ λαχὸν τὸ γράμμα σου δικάζειν
A scholion on it (vetera) describes the judicial lot mechanism:
The ἐδίκαζον περὶ φονικῶν πραγμάτων, opposed to δημοτικῶν πραγμάτων seems perfectly clear to me. I suppose this would date to Aristarchus’ era? I think that I could probably find a lot of similar uses in Plutarch. Before banishing it as “late”, however, the LSJ “approaching abstract” section has a number of classical references that we could look up and go through.
I’m afraid you’ve missed the lexical point Joel, which is actually borne out, not contradicted, by LSJ’s observation that πρᾶγμα is "the concrete of πρᾶξις, but freq. approaching to the abstract sense.” Note “approaching.” The different morphology ensures that the sense of πρᾶγμα remains distinct from that of πρᾶξις, however close the two may sometimes come.
The Areopagus court, unlike regular courts, made judgments περὶ φονικῶν πραγμάτων—πραγμάτων not πράξεων, which would hardly make sense.
I’m not going to start hair-splitting the precise meaning of “abstract” with you. φονικὰ πράγματα is perfectly good. Above, φονικὰ πράγματα and δημοτικὰ πράγματα are not murderous deeds and the people’s deeds. They are murder matters and civil matters. There is not necessarily a concrete murder behind every murder case. Even “murder cases” might be a bit too concrete for φονικὰ πράγματα, given how this πράγματα + adj. usage tends to go elsewhere.
