Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 1:64

ἀνεῴχθη. The aorist implies that the result was immediate. The A. V[40], “his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed,” translates the zeugma of the original, where ‘was opened’ is connected with both substantives, though it is not accurately applied to γλῶσσα (comp. Mark 7:35). The most marked instances of zeugma in the Greek Testament are in 1 Corinthians 3:2, γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα οὐ βρῶμα. 1 Timothy 4:3, κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων. See Winer, p. 777. For the distinction between zeugma and syllepsis, and English and other illustrations of these figures, see Brief Greek Syntax p. 195.

[40] A. V. Authorised Version.

ἐλάλει. ‘he began to speak’ (imperfect), the previous verb ‘was opened’ being an aorist. For instances of the aorist (of an instant act) followed, as here, by the imperfect of a continuous result see Matthew 26:59, ἐζήτουν μαρτυρίαν καὶ οὐχ εὗρον: Luke 8:23, κατέβη λαῖλαψ καὶ συνεπληροῦντο: Mark 7:35; James 2:22, &c. Winer, p. 337.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 1:64

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