ἅπτω

ἅπτω 1 aor. ἧψα, ptc. ἅψας. Mid.: fut. ἅψομαι LXX; 1 aor. ἡψάμην; pf. 3 sg. ἧπται; ptc. ἡμμένος LXX. Pass.: fut. 3 sg. ἀφθήσεται Jer 31:9 B S (Hom.+).

① to cause illumination or burning to take place, light, kindle (Aeschyl., Hdt.; PGM 7, 543; POxy 1297, 4; 7; 13; LXX, Joseph.) λύχνον ἅ. (Herodas 8, 6; PAthen 60, 6; Epict. 1, 20, 19; Diog. L. 4, 66; 6, 41; TestSol 6:10 λύχνους; Philo, Gig. 33 [mid.]; Jos., Ant. 3, 199) Lk 8:16; 11:33; 15:8. ἅ. πῦρ kindle a fire (Eur., Hel. 503; Phalaris, Ep. 122, 2; Jdth 13:13; TestSol 7:5; Jos., Ant. 4, 55) Lk 22:55 v.l.; Ac 28:2. Pass. Mk 4:21 v.l. (cp. PGM 13, 683 λύχνους ἡμμένους).

② to make close contact, mid. w. gen. (Hom. et al.; En, PsSol, GrBar; Jos., Ant. 6, 308 al; Just., Ath.; Mel., P. 52, 383).

ⓐ gener. touch, take hold of, hold τινός someone or someth. Lk 7:39; IRo 5:2. Dg 12:8. MPol 13:2. Hs 1:11; the sky by throwing a stone m 11:18.—Touch someone’s chest, spontaneously, of one who is speaking Hv 1, 4, 2; cp. 3, 1, 6. Cp. GHb 356, 39=ISm 3:2. ἅψαι τοῦ παιδίου take hold of the child GJs 20:3. Fig., take hold of τ. βασιλείας the Kingdom B 7:11.—JBauer, Agraphon 90 Resch: ZNW 62, ’71, 301–3.

ⓑ cling to μή μου ἅπτου stop clinging to me! (s. BHaensler, BZ 11, 1913, 172–77; KKastner, ibid. 13, 1915, 344–53; KRösch, ibid. 14, 1917, 333–37; BViolet, ZNW 24, 1925, 78–80; FPerles, ibid. 25, 1926, 287; WCotter, ET 43, ’32, 45f; TNicklin, ibid. 51, ’39/40, 478; JMaiworm, ThGl ’38, 540–46) J 20:17 (Arrian, Anab. 6, 13, 3: Alexander is severely wounded in the chest by an arrow and his soldiers cannot believe that he is still alive. When he appears among them, recovered from his wound, they take hold [ἁπτόμενοι] of his hands, knees, and clothing in astonishment and delight).

ⓒ freq. of touching as a means of conveying a blessing (divine working by a touch of the hand: Anton. Lib. 4, 7 Ἀπόλλων ἁψάμενος αὐτοῦ τῇ χειρὶ πέτρον ἐποίησεν; Ps.-Apollod. 2, 1, 3, 1 Zeus transforms by touching [ἅπτεσθαι]) Mk 10:13; Lk 18:15 (here perh. hold), esp. to bring about a healing (SIG 1169, 62). Gener. of touching persons who are ill Mt 8:3; 17:7; Mk 1:41; 8:22; Lk 5:13. ἅψαι αὐτῆς ἐκ τ. χειρῶν σου Mk 5:23 D. Esp. of touching parts of the body (SIG 1170, 23 ἥψατό μου τῆς δεξιᾶς χιρός) τ. γλώσσης (cp. Philo, De Prov. in Eus., PE 8, 14, 18) Mk 7:33. τ. ὀφθαλμῶν Mt 9:29; cp. 20:34; 8:15; Lk 22:51. Likew. τῆς σοροῦ touch the coffin, if the purpose was to raise the dead man, not simply to halt the bearers (cp. Aphrodite touching a chariot Pind., P. 9, 11) Lk 7:14. Of those who are ill, touching the healer Mk 3:10; 6:56; Lk 6:19; 8:45ff. Also of touching the clothes of the healer (cp. Athen. 5, 212f ἑκάστου σπεύδοντος κἂν προσάψασθαι τῆς ἐσθῆτος) ἅ. τ. ἱματίου touch his cloak Mt 9:21; Mk 5:27; 6:56. τ. ἱματίων 5:28, 30f. τ. κρασπέδου the hem or tassel Mt 9:20; 14:36; Lk 8:44.

③ to partake of someth., w. cultic implications, have contact with, touch. Of contact w. unclean things 2 Cor 6:17 (Num 16:26; Is 52:11). The abs. μὴ ἅψῃ you must not touch or handle Col 2:21 can be interpreted in this sense. On the other hand, ἅπτεσθαι can mean eat, like our ‘touch food’ (Od. 4, 60; Plut., Anton. 923 [17]; Chariton 6, 2, 8 οὐχ ἥπτετο τροφῆς; Arrian, Anab. 4, 9, 5 σίτου ἅπτεσθαι; Aelian, VH 12, 37 ἐπʼ ἀπορίᾳ τροφῶν ἥψατο τῶν καμήλων=he seized [and ate] the camels; Diog. L. 6, 73 κρεῶν; Philostrat., Vi. Apoll. 3, 27 p. 105, 9; Philo, Exs. 134; Jos., Ant. 4, 234; 8, 362; 13, 276; En 25:4f [tree of life, as in GrBar 4:8]). We would, then, have in this passage the anticlimax eat, taste, touch. Finally, θιγγάνω, like ἅπτ. and γεύομαι (q.v. 1) can mean eat (cp. Iambl., Vi. Pyth. 31, 191 κυάμων μὴ θιγγάνειν; 13, 61 γεύεσθαι=Porphyr., Vi. Pyth. 24 θιγγάνειν; POxy 1185, 10f [c. 200 A.D.], where three difft. expr. for ‘eat’ are grouped together: τὸν παῖδα δεῖ ἄρτον ἐσθίειν, ἅλας ἐπιτρώγειν, ὀψαρίου μὴ θιγγάνειν [eat, eat [with], not eat at all]). The combination ἐσθ., τρωγ., θιγγ. might corresp. to Col 2:21 ἅπτ., γεύ., θιγγ., taken to mean eat, enjoy, consume (ἅ. and γεύ. together, both=‘eat’ in Teles p. 34, 5). The verbs, perh. used in association w. var. foods (s. POxy 1185) by the false spirits, are effectively combined by Paul, in order to picture the feeling of dread which he castigates.

④ to touch intimately, have sexual contact, of intercourse w. a woman (Pla., Leg. 8, 840a; Aristot., Pol. 7, 14, 12 [1335b]; Plut., Alex. 676 [21, 9]; M. Ant. 1, 17, 13; Jos., Ant. 1, 163; Gen 20:6; Pr 6:29) γυναικὸς μὴ ἅ. 1 Cor 7:1 (ἅπτεσθαι w. gen. of ‘touching’ a woman in general: Vi. Aesopi G103).

⑤ to make contact with a view to causing harm, touch for the purpose of harming, injure (Diod S 1, 84, 1; Arrian, Alex. Anab. 4, 4, 2; Ps 104:15; 1 Ch 16:22; Zech 2:12; Demetr.: 722 Fgm. 1, 7 Jac.) ὁ πονηρὸς οὐχ ἅπτεται αὐτοῦ the evil one cannot harm him (or cannot even touch him; cp. 1 Esdr 4:28; PsSol 13:6; TestAbr A 15 p. 96, 11 [Stone p. 40]) 1J 5:18.—Fig. οὐχ ἅψηται σου κακόν no evil shall touch you 1 Cl 56:8 (Job 5:19; cp. PsSol 13:6; 15:4).—OHeick, Hapto in the NT: Luth. Church Quart. 12, ’39, 90–95.—B. 76; 1061. DELG. M-M s.v. ἅπτομαι. TW. Sv.