Man - Woman - Husband - Wife

I was having a bit of a journey tonight. Some of you might guess, that I often visit more than the blogs listed in my side bar. It's true, that I visit the 'Blogs I visit on a regular basis' every day that I am online (which is almost everyday ... but not always everyday). I like going for visits though to lots of peoples blogs. Mainly, if someone has written an interesting comment on a blog, I'll follow the link. Other times, I just go wandering the blogsphere. Let's face it, I like to read. The only blog I can honestly say I visit on a regular basis that I haven't got listed is Toroto's. (So, maybe I need to make a button and get him listed!) Tonight I visited SPG's blog. I've visited her before, but decided to drop in again via someone elses blog. I read an interesting post by her. In the post, she mentions that there is no word for 'wife' in the Bible. Not in Hebrew, and not in Kone Greek. The reason being, that the word for 'wife' was simply 'woman' (wife) or 'your woman' (your wife) or 'my woman' (my wife) etc. I don't know my Hebrew well enough to comment on that. I do know my Kone Greek a litte though. [NOTE: Kone Greek just means Common Greek, and was the language used to write the New Testament - Kone Greek is different to Modern Greek] The word for woman and wife are the same. Gune [That's as close as I can get it in English!] It might be interesting for SPG and other's to know, that the word for Husband in Greek (at least in the New Testament Kone Greek version I have sitting on my bookshelf), is also the same word as Man. What we actually have in the culture, is people who used to put a possessive marker on somone to designate that they were in a relatinship together. Basically, they were each other's property. Husband = My Man Wife = My Woman. It's not to big a jump to make. The need for another word 'husband' or 'wife' obviously was not needed. If we were to speak about someone elses husband or wife, we'd just need to name the person as the owner of the 'man' or 'woman' in order to designate it. Jack's Woman Jill's Man SPG in her post, was talking about a sermon that had been given. The pastor has given one interpretation as to the meaning of the missing 'wife' word and SPG has given her interpretation of the missing 'wife' word. I think, looking at it in context [ie including the fact that there was not a word for 'husband' either] leaves us open for the interpretation that I have presented. The fact that there was no need for the 'husband' / 'wife' words in that society. The added possessive produced the same meaning as the English words for 'Husband' and 'Wife' Next time you open your Bible - try reading the chapter John 4. When it gets to the bit that Jesus asks the woman of Samaria to fetch her husband, and she says, 'I have no husband', read the next verse. (Jn4:18) - The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is quite true." The word used in that sentence for 'husband' and 'man' is the same word. The difference is in the possessive - 'your man' and 'man'. Would sound a little strange in English to say that sentence as: The fact is, you have had five 'your mans' and the 'man' you now have is not 'your man'. Anyway - just bringing it up as something to think about. Now, you have three differnt peoples opinions for the missing 'wife' word! :-)