τίς

τίς, τί gen. τίνος, dat. τίνι, acc. τίνα, τί (Hom.+) interrogative pron. in direct, indirect and rhetorical questions (W-S. §25, 1ff; B-D-F §298f, al.; Rob. 735–40 al.)

① an interrogative ref. to someone or someth., who? which (one)? what?

ⓐ as subst.

α. τίς;

א. who? which one? τίς ὑπέδειξεν ὑμῖν; Mt 3:7; Lk 3:7. τίς ἐστιν ὁ παίσας σε; Mt 26:68 (FNeirynck, ETL 63, 5–47; RBrown, The Death of the Messiah ’94, II 578–80). τίνος υἱός ἐστιν; whose son is he? 22:42b. τίνα λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου; 16:13. Cp. Mk 11:28; 12:16; 16:3; Lk 9:9, 18; J 18:4, 7 (cp. Jos., Ant. 9, 56). τίς σοφὸς … ἐν ὑμῖν; Js 3:13. τίς οὖν ἐστιν; who, then, is she? Hs 2, 4, 1.—Esp. in questions to which the answer ‘nobody’ is expected Ac 8:33 (Is 53:8); Ro 7:24; 8:24, 33–35; 9:19b; 10:16 (Is 53:1); 11:34ab (Is 40:13ab); 1 Cor 9:7abc; 2 Cor 11:29ab. Likew. τίς … εἰ μή; who … except (for), but? Mk 2:7; Lk 5:21b; 1J 2:22; 5:5 (PsSol. 5:3, 11). Pl. ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνες ἐστέ; Ac 19:15. Cp. 2 Ti 3:14; Hb 3:16–18; Rv 7:13.—Foll. by partitive gen. (JosAs 6:7 [τίς … ἀνθρώπων;]; Ar. 9, 5; Tat. 2, 1) τίς τούτων τῶν τριῶν; Lk 10:36. τίνος ὑμῶν υἱός; 14:5. τίνι τῶν ἀγγέλων; Hb 1:5. τίνα τῶν προφητῶν; Ac 7:52. Cp. Mt 22:28; Mk 12:23; Hb 1:13 al. For the part. gen. τίς ἐξ ὑμῶν; etc. Mt 6:27; Lk 11:5; 14:28.—Mt 21:31. τίνα ἀπὸ τῶν δύο; Mt 27:21.

ב. who? in the sense what sort of person? (=ποῖος; cp. Ex 3:11; Jdth 12:14; Jos., Ant. 6, 298; Ath. 12, 2) τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὸ̔ς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; Lk 5:21a. Cp. 19:3; J 8:53; Ac 11:17 (cp. 4 Km 8:13); Ro 14:4; 1 Cor 3:5ab v.l. (in both); Js 4:12. σὺ τίς εἶ; (just) who are you? what sort of person are you? (Menand., Epitr. 391 S. [215 Kö.]; Epict. 3, 1, 22; 23; Herm. Wr. 1, 2; Job 35:2; Tat. 6, 2 τίς ἤμην, οὐκ ἐγίνωσκον) J 1:19; 8:25; 21:12. τίς εἰμι ἐγὼ ὅτι who am I, that GJs 12:2 (Ex 3:11).

ג. which of two? (=πότερος) Mt 27:17; Lk 22:27; J 9:2.

ד. as a substitute for the rel. pron. (Callimachus 28 [=30], 2; Ptolemaeus Euergetes in Athen. 10, 438e τίνι ἡ τύχη δίδωσι, λαβέτω. Cp. BGU 665 III, 13 [I A.D.]; 822, 4 [III A.D.] εὗρον γεοργόν, τίς αὐτὰ ἑλκύσῃ; Gen 38:25; Lev 21:17; Dt 29:17; s. 1aβו below and s. Kühner-G. II 517f; OImmisch, Leipz. Studien z. klass. Philol. 10, 1887, 309ff; KBuresch, RhM n.s. 46, 1891, 231ff; Mlt. 21 n. 1; 93f; Rob. 737f; Dssm., LO 266, 5 [CIG 9552—LAE 313, 6]; Mayser II/1, 1926, 80) τίνα με ὑπονοεῖτε εἶναι οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγώ Ac 13:25 v.l. So also Js 3:13, if it is to be punctuated τίς σοφὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, δειξάτω.

β. τί;

א. what? τί σοι δοκεῖ; Mt 17:25a; cp. 18:12; 21:28. τί ποιήσει; vs. 40. Cp. Mk 9:33; 10:3, 17; Lk 10:26; J 1:22b; 18:38; Ac 8:36; Ro 10:8; 1 Cor 4:7b al. τίνι; to what (thing)? Lk 13:18ab; 20.—W. prepositions: διὰ τί; why? for what reason? cp. διά B 2b. εἰς τί; why? for what purpose? εἰς 4f. ἐν τίνι; with what? through whom? Mt 5:13; 12:27; Mk 9:50; Lk 11:19; 14:34; Ac 4:9. πρὸς τί; why? (X., Cyr. 6, 3, 20; 8, 4, 21) J 13:28. χάριν τίνος; why? lit. ‘because of what thing?’ 1J 3:12 (cp. Just., A II, 12, 5; Tat. 34, 3).

ב. what sort of thing? (=ποῖον) τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; what sort of thing is this? (Ps.-Lucian, Halc. 1 τίς ἡ φωνή; Ex 16:15) Mk 1:27. τί τὸ πλοῦτος what sort of wealth Col 1:27; cp. Eph 1:19; 3:18.

ג. which of two? (=πότερον; Pla., Phlb. 52d) Mt 9:5; 23:19; Mk 2:9; Lk 5:23; 1 Cor 4:21; Phil 1:22.

ד. τί as pred. can go w. a subject that is in the pl. (Pla., Tht. 155c τί ἐστι ταῦτα; [so also TestAbr A 12 p. 91, 16=Stone p. 30, and TestLevi 2:9 v.l.]; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 11, 1; Synes., Prov. 2, 2 p. 118b; Laud. Therap. 18 τί μοι ταῦτα; cp. TestAbr A 7 p. 83, 32 [Stone p. 14] τί τὰ ὁραθέντα; GrBar 2:7 τί εἰσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὗτοι; what’s the meaning of these people? Jos., Vi. 296 τί γεγόνασιν;) or that is not neut. gender (B-D-F §299, 1; 2; Rob. 736; cp. X., Hell. 2, 3, 17 τί ἔσοιτο ἡ πολιτεία, Mem. 4, 2, 21; GrBar 6:13 τί ἐστιν ἡ φωνὴ αὕτη; ApcMos 5 τί ἐστιν πόνος καὶ νόσος;): τί ἐστι ἄνθρωπος; (Epict. 2, 5, 26; 2, 9, 2) Hb 2:6 (Ps 8:5). ταῦτα τί ἐστιν εἰς τοσούτους; J 6:9. ἐπυνθάνετο τί ἂν εἴη ταῦτα Lk 15:26. τί ἐσόμεθα 1J 3:2. τί ἄρα ὁ Πέτρος ἐγένετο what had become of Peter Ac 12:18. οὗτος δὲ τί (ἔσται); what about this man? J 21:21. This pass. forms a transition to

ה. elliptical expressions: τί οὐν; (X., Mem. 4, 2, 17; Teles p. 25, 13; Diod S 13, 26, 1; Ael. Aristid. 28, 17 K.=49 p. 496 D.; schol. on Pind., O. 12, 20c; Jos., Bell. 2, 364; Just., D. 3, 6; Ath. 15, 1.—1 Cor 14:15, 26 the expr. is given more fully τί οὖν ἐστιν; Ro 6:1; 7:7; 9:14, 30 τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; 1 Cor 10:19 τί οὖν φημι;) J 1:21; Ro 3:9; 6:15 (Seneca, Ep. 47, 15 also introduces an absurd inference w. ‘quid ergo’); 11:7.—τί γάρ; what, then, is the situation? (Ps.-Pla., Erx. 1, 392b; Diod S 34 + 35 Fgm. 2, 38; Dio Chrys. 71 [21], 16; Lucian, Tyrannic. 13; Just., D. 1, 3) Ro 3:3; what does it matter? Phil 1:18. Also τί γάρ μοι (TestJob 23:8 τί γάρ μοι ἡ θρίξ) w. inf. foll. is it any business of mine? (Tat. 33, 2 τί γάρ μοι … λέγειν why should I take the time … to say something?—cp. without γάρ Epict. 2, 17, 14 καὶ τί μοι; 3, 22, 66 τί οὖν σοι; Maximus Tyr. 2, 10c) 1 Cor 5:12.—On τί πρὸς ἡμᾶς (πρός σε); s. πρός 3eγ. On τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί; s. ἐγώ, end; also Schwyzer II 143; Goodsp., Probs. 98–101; MSmith, JBL 64, ’45, 512f; JLilly, CBQ 8, ’46, 52–57. τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί; has the same mng.: Mt 8:29; Mk 1:24a; Lk 4:34a (cp. Epict. 2, 19, 16; 2, 20, 11).—τί ὅτι;=τί γέγονεν ὅτι; (cp. J 14:22) what has happened that? why? (LXX; JosAs 16:5 τί ὅτι εἶπας … ;) Mk 2:16 v.l.; Lk 2:49; Ac 5:4, 9; Hs 9, 5, 2.—On ἵνα τί s. the entry ἱνατί.

ו. as a substitute for the relative (SIG 543, 12; 705, 56; 736, 50; s. aαד above) οὐ τί ἐγὼ θέλω ἀλλὰ τί σύ Mk 14:36. Cp. 4:24; Lk 17:8; Ac 13:25. Pl. 1 Ti 1:7.—οὐκ ἔχουσιν τί φάγωσιν Mt 15:32; Mk 8:2 (cp. vs. 1) is prob. to be understood as an indirect question=‘they do not know what they are to eat’ (W-S. §24, 17b).

γ. Two interrog. pronouns stand together without a conjunction (distributive; s. Kühner-G. II 521f; B-D-F §298, 5; Rob. 737) τίς τί ἄρῃ what each one should receive Mk 15:24. τίς τί διεπραγματεύσατο what each one gained in trading Lk 19:15 v.l. Cp. Hv 3, 8, 6; m 6, 1, 1 (s. also Ael. Aristid. 31 p. 598 D.: τί τίς ἂν λέγοι; Ps.-Clem., Hom. 2, 33).

ⓑ as adj. (TestAbr A 15 p. 96, 15 [Stone p. 40] τί ῥῆμα γενήσεται; TestJob 47:1 τίς οὖν χρεία; ApcEsdr 5:26 p. 30, 30 Tdf. τίς ἄρα ἄνθρωπος; Just., A I, 53, 2 al.) τίνα what (sort of) μισθὸν ἔχετε; Mt 5:46. τίς βασιλεύς; Lk 14:31. Cp. 15:4, 8; J 2:18; 18:29; Ac 10:29; 1 Cor 15:2; 2 Cor 6:14–16 (five times). 1 Th 4:2 οἰδατε γὰρ τίνα παραγγελία for you know what instructions (we gave you). In Ac 7:49 τί replaces ποῖο (as read by D, after Is 66:1); cp. 1 Pt 1:11, where τί and the following ποῖο are contrasted. τί περισσόν; etc.: Mt 5:47; 19:16; 27:23.

② interrogative expression of reason for, why? adv. τί (Hom., Pla., et al.; LXX; TestAbr A 8 p. 85, 23 [Stone p. 18]; B 7 p. 111, 4 [St. p. 70]; ApcEsdr 5:16 p. 30, 15 Tdf.; ApcSed 3:1; ApcMos 27; Just., A I, 20, 3; Tat. 10, 2; Ath. 17, 4) τί μεριμνᾶτε; why do you worry? Mt 6:28. Cp. 7:3; 19:17; Mk 2:7a, 8; 4:40; 11:3; Lk 2:48; 6:46; 19:33; 24:38a; J 7:19; 18:23; Ac 1:11; 14:15; 26:8; 1 Cor 4:7c; 10:30; Col 2:20. τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας; GJs 13:2; 15:3 (GrBar 1:2 τί ἐποίησας τοῦτο;). τί οὖν ὁ νόμος; why have the law, then=well then, what’s the use of the (Mosaic) law? Gal 3:19. τί καί; why, indeed? for what possible reason? 1 Cor 15:29b, 30. τί γινώσκω ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου; how should I know where my son is? GJs 23:1.

③ exclamatory expression of extent or degree, how! adv. τί (transl. of Hebr. מָה; W-S. §21, 4; B-D-F §299, 4; Rob. 739; 1176; LXX [Ps 3:2; SSol 1:10; 7:7; 2 Km 6:20]; Basilius, Hexaëm. p. 8b MPG τί καλὴ ἡ τάξις [s. JTrunk, De Basilio Magno sermonis Attici imitatore: Wissensch. Beilage z. Jahresber. d. Gymn. Ehingen a. D. 1911, 36]) τί στενή Mt 7:14; τί θέλω Lk 12:49 (s. θέλω 1, end, and Black, Aramaic Approach³, ’67, 121–24).—M-M. EDNT.