Afghan

α�?σενοκοιται - Okay, I know that not all first declension nouns are feminine but precisely why do we think this one is masculine?

S.C.Carlson

The suffix -της of ἀ�?σενοκοίτης (singular) is a masculine suffix. Its corresponding feminine suffix is -τις, which would yield *ἀ�?σενοκοῖτις. Also the masculine article is used with ἀ�?σενοκοίτης in the second/third century Clementine Recognitions, the Acts of John, and Origen.

Stephen

Afghan

Okay. So we know that it was interpreted as a masculine noun a century or so after Paul first used it. What would the nominative plural of ἀ�?σενοκοῖτις be? And is that construction derived from the assumption that the masculine form is ἀ�?σενοκοίτης or does that have some other providence? I realise the -κοίτ- suffix appears in earlier Greek writing but is that also as a first declension masculine noun?

S.C.Carlson

The nominative plural of a *ἀ�?σενοκοῖτις should be *ἀ�?σενοκοίτιδες.

I put the asterisk on because the feminine is in fact unattested, but that is the corresponding feminine suffix (cf. Smyth's grammar § 843). Other masculine nouns with the same -της suffix include: ναύτης (sailor), τοξότης (bowman), οἰκέτης (butler), δεσμώτης (prisoner), �?πλίτης (heavy-armed soldier), and στ�?ατιώτης (soldier). Note that the feminine form of οἰκέτης (butler) is οἰκέτις (house-maid).

The root κοίτ- is found in the feminine noun κοίτη (bed), but the gender of the root does not affect the gender of the compound. For example, the root of στ�?ατιώτης (soldier) is the feminine noun στ�?ατιά (army).

Stephen

Stephen

Afghan

Thanks.

There still doesn't seem to be very much evidence that Paul intended the word as a masculine noun. Only that he could have done and that significantly later writers did so. I mean Paul could have used it as the plural of α�?σενοκοιτη, right? The α�?σενοκοιτιδες construction assumes that Paul's construction was masculine rather than proves it.

S.C.Carlson

I suppose that it is theoretically possible that α�?σενοκοιται could be the plural of an otherwise unknown *α�?σενοκοιτη, but if such as word ever existed (i.e., without the -της masculine ending), it would have meant "a bed (built) for a male." I don't think that such an object is what Paul intended in 1 Cor. 6:9.

Stephen