- ὅμως
- ὅμως adversative particle (ὁμός ‘common’; Hom.+; Schwyzer II 582f) all the same, nevertheless, yet strengthened ὅμ. μέντοι (s. μέντοι 2) J 12:42.—Paul’s two-fold epistolary use of the word is peculiar, yet analogous to J’s use: ὅμως τὰ ἄψυχα φωνὴν διδόντα … ἐὰν διαστολὴν τοῖς φθόγγοις μὴ δῷ, πῶς γνωσθήσεται … 1 Cor 14:7 and ὅμως ἀνθρώπου κεκυρωμένην διαθήκην οὐδεὶς ἀθετεῖ Gal 3:15. As a rule these passages are explained on the basis of hyperbation or displacement of ὅμως, retaining the mng. ‘nevertheless’; so for Gal 3:15 the transl. would be ‘even though it involves only a person’s last will and testament, nevertheless no one annuls it’ (so, gener., EBurton, ICC, Gal 1920, 178f; cp. passages like X., Cyr. 5, l, 26 [Kühner-G. II 85f]). But since ὁμ. introduces a comparison both times in Paul (οὕτως follows it in 1 Cor 14:9), we do better (with B-D-F §450, 2) to understand ὅμ. as influenced by the older ὁμῶς ‘equally, likewise’ (cp. the ambivalent use Od. 11, 565). The transl. would be greatly simplified, and we can render ὅμ. simply likewise, also (JJeremias, ZNW 52, ’61, 127f agrees).—DELG s.v. ὁμό. M-M.
Ελληνικά-Αγγλικά παλαιοχριστιανική Λογοτεχνία. 2015.