1 Corinthians 13:1:171 Cor.13.1.W17TAB
ἢ
ê
“or”
- Transliteration
- Ê
- Extended
- ay
- IPA
- /ɛː/
Meaning by language
- English
- or
Alphabet Analysis
| Eta | i — as in machine |
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The word
Word in context
- word
Ê
- sentence
e-AN TAIS GLÔS-sais tôn an-THRÔ-pōn la-LÔ KAI tôn an-GGE-lōn a-GA-pēn de MÊ E-khō GE-go-na khal-KOS ê-KHÔN Ê KYM-ba-lon a-la-LA-dzon
Exegesis
This verb is completed by two predicate nominatives: chalkos echōn {χαλκὸς ἠχῶν | khal-kós ē-khôn} ‘a sounding brass’ and kymbalon alalazon {κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον | kým-ba-lon a-la-lá-zon} ‘a clanging cymbal’, linked by the disjunctive e {ἢ | ē} ‘or’. The participles echōn and alalazon modify the metallic nouns, creating vivid metaphors of empty, resonant noise. In translation, the conditional structure is preserved by rendering the protasis with “If I speak” and, in dynamic form, “Even if I could speak,” while the metaphoric predicates are expressed through idiomatic English images that convey impressive yet ultimately meaningless sound in the absence of love.
Root and etymology
agap-alpha–gamma–alpha–pi
“love, esteem, preference”
In context — 1 Corinthians 13:1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal .
About this coordinate
1 Corinthians 13:1:17 is a BCV:P reference — Book · Chapter · Verse · Word Position. It addresses word 17 of 1 Corinthians 13:1, so the Greek word ἢ (ê) can be cited, linked and studied at exactly this position rather than somewhere in the verse. In the Biblical Knowledge Coordinate System the same position is written 1 Cor.13.1.W17, which extends further down to each syllable (1 Cor.13.1.W17.S1) and character.