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?
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.
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.
It was indeed a typo; and thanks again.
I’d like your learned opinion on Leviticus 20:15 (which thread see below).