καὶ

Alphabet Analysis

The word

1. word🔊 καὶ

   KAI

   and
2. sentence🔊 καὶ ἡ πόλις τετράγωνος κεῖται καὶ τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς ὅσον τὸ πλάτος καὶ ἐμέτρησεν τὴν πόλιν τῷ καλάμῳ ἐπὶ σταδίους δώδεκα χιλιάδων τὸ μῆκος καὶ τὸ πλάτος καὶ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῆς ἴσα ἐστίν

   KAI hê PO-lis te-TRA-go-nos KEI-tai KAI to MÊ-kos au-TÊS HO-son to PLA-tos KAI e-ME-trê-sen tên PO-lin tôi ka-LA-môi e-PI sta-DI-ous DÔ-de-ka khi-li-A-dōn to MÊ-kos KAI to PLA-tos KAI to HYP-sos au-TÊS I-sa es-TIN

   and the city foursquare lies and the length of it as much as the breadth and he measured the city with the reed to stadia twelve thousands the length and the breadth and the height of it equal is

Exegesis

The verse opens with the coordinated clause kai he polis tetragonos keitai {καὶ ἡ πόλις τετράγωνος κεῖται | kaì hē pólis tetrágō-nos keîtai} ‘and the city lies four-sided’, where the predicate adjective tetragonos precedes the verb to emphasize the city’s square shape.

A second coordination, kai to mekos autēs hoson to platos {καὶ τὸ μῆκος αὐτῆς ὅσον τὸ πλάτος | kaì tò mḗkos autês hóson tò plátos}, uses the correlative pronoun hoson with neuter nouns to assert exact equality of length and width.

The final clause, to mekos kai to platos kai to hypsos autēs isa estin {τὸ μῆκος καὶ τὸ πλάτος καὶ τὸ ὕψος αὐτῆς ἴσα ἐστίν}, repeats the article + noun pattern for each dimension, culminating in the predicative adjective isa to convey perfect uniformity. This deliberate structure underscores the imagery of a perfectly symmetrical, cube-like city.

Root and etymology

kainos🔊 καινόςkappa–alpha–iota–nu–omicron–sigma

“new, fresh”