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A Note Regarding the Name ‘Junia(s)’ in Romans 16.7

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Richard S. Cervin
Richard S. Cervin
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(6689 Spurlock Way, Sacramento, California 95831, USA)
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Type
Short Studies
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , July 1994 , pp. 464 - 470
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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References

1 John, Piper and Wayne, Grudem, ed., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991) 79.Google Scholar

2 Chandler, H. W., A Practical Introduction to Greek Accentuation (2nd edition, revised; Oxford: University, 1881; reprinted 1983 by Caratzas Publishers).Google Scholar §§ 31–2 contain an extensive list of names in -âς, which Chandler notes are often foreign. However, none of the names in the list end in -ιâς. Included in the list are several names which occur in the NT such as Hermas, Loukas, Silas, Klopas, and others. See also §§ 97–8 for a list of feminine names.

3 There is a variation in the textual witnesses regarding this name. A few read Ιουλιαν 6 itar, c, gig, x, z copbo) which Metzger regards as a ‘clerical error’ (Bruce Metzger, M., A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament [corrected ed., New York: United Bible Societies, 1975] 539)Google Scholar. I am assuming with the editors that the correct reading is Ιουλιαν.

4 There is apparently division among editors of the KJV. The American Bible Society's version of the KJV prints the name as feminine, whereas in Scofield's version the name is masculine.

5 There is a variation in the Latin MSS also: Iulium R; Iunilium F2; Iuliam A cet. (Robert, Weber, ed., Biblia Sacra Vulgata [3rd ed.; Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1969]Google Scholar; Eberhard, Nestle, ed., Novum Testamentum Latine [11th ed.; Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1971])Google Scholar. I am assuming with the editors that the correct reading is Iuniam.

6 Manfred Brauch, T., Hard Sayings of Paul (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1989) 254Google Scholar; Thomas, W. H. Griffith, St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1946) 424.Google Scholar

7 Barrett, C. K., A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (New York: Harper and Row, 1957) 283Google Scholar; Liddon, H. P., Explanatory Analysis of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (repr.; Minneapolis: James and Klock Christian Publishing, 1977) 296Google Scholar; Murray, John, The Epistle to the Romans (2 vols.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959, 1968) 2.229–30Google Scholar; Carson, D. A., Moo, Douglas J. and Morris, Leon, An Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992)243.Google Scholar

8 The following decide for the masculine: Lenski, R. C. H., The Interpretation of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1936) 905Google Scholar; Hendriksen, William, New Testament Commentary: Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980) 504Google Scholar; Godet, Frederic L., Commentary on Romans (repr.; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1977) 491–2.Google Scholar Those deciding for the feminine are as follows: Barclay, William, The Letter to the Romans (revised ed.; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975) 212Google Scholar; Jamieson, , Fausset, and Brown, , Commentary (2 vols.; Grand Rapids: Associated Publishers and Authors, nd) 2.259Google Scholar; Koester, Helmut, Introduction to the New Testament (2 vols.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982) 2.139.Google Scholar

9 Lange, John Peter, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (12 vols.; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960) 10.447Google Scholar, although he prefers the masculine; Hodge, Charles, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (revised ed.; repr.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1950) 448–9Google Scholar; Bruce, F. F., The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963) 272Google Scholar; Sanday, William and Headlam, Arthur C., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (5th ed.; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1902) 422–3.Google Scholar

10 S.v.: Abbott-Smith, G., A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (3rd ed.; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1937)Google Scholar; Bauer, W., Arndt, W. F., Gingrich, F. W. and Danker, W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (2nd ed.; Chicago: University, 1979)Google Scholar; Louw, J. P. and Nida, Eugene, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (2nd ed.; 2 vols.; New York: United Bible Societies, 1988)Google Scholar; Moulton, J. H. and Milligan, G., The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1930)Google Scholar; Thayer, J. H., The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (repr.; Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1981).Google Scholar

11 Blass, F., Debrunner, A., and Funk, Robert W., A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University, 1961) § 125.2Google Scholar; Robertson, A. T., A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (3rd ed.; Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1934) 172Google Scholar; Moulton, J. H., Howard, W. F. and Turner, N., A Grammar of New Testament Greek (4 vols.; Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1906–76) 2.155.Google Scholar

12 Blass-Debrunner-Funk, Robertson, BAGD, Moulton-Milligan, Thayer, op. cit. So also in several commentaries: Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Lange, Liddon, Sanday and Headlam, Op. cit.

13 The name does not occur in the following dictionaries of names: Preisigke, Friedrich, Namenbuch (Heidelberg: Selbst' des Herausgebers, 1922)Google Scholar; Bechtel, Friedrich, Die historischen Personennamen des Griechischen bis zur Kaiserzeit (repr.; Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1964 [1917])Google Scholar; Fraser, P. M. and Matthews, E., A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names 1: Aegean Islands, Cyprus, Cyrenaia (Oxford: University, 1987)Google Scholar; Jones, A. H. M., Martindale, J. R., and Morris, J., The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: AD 260–527 (2 vols.; Cambridge: University, 1971–80)Google Scholar. Of course, the lack of evidence does not prove non-existence. Neither Preisigke, Bechtel, nor Fraser and Matthews list the feminine name Ίουνία/Iunia which clearly occurs in Plutarch's Brutus.

John Piper and Wayne Grudem ran a search for the feminine form Ίουνία on the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, and they report that the feminine form occurs but three times in Greek literature (in Romans 16; in Plutarch's Life of Brutus 7.1; and in Chrysostom's Homilies on Romans 31.7). They also note that Epiphanius and Origen (in a Latin translation by Rufinus have the masculine form Iunias (Piper and Grudem, 79–81). The presence of Iunias in Epiphanius and apparently in Origen (as per Rufinus) is irrelevant for determining the gender of the name in the NT because of the late date of these Fathers. If the earliest occurrence of the name Iunias dates from the fourth century AD, who is to say that the form Iunias did not arise in the fourth century? Furthermore, in a footnote, Piper and Grudem (479) point out that Epiphanius also identifies the obviously feminine name Prisca (in Rom 16.3) as a masculine name!

As useful as the TLG is, it is not an exhaustive database. I have found the name [Ίουν]ίαν Τορκουταν (Iunia Torquata), whom we know from Tacitus (Annals 3.69) to have been a Vestal Virgin, in a partially defaced Greek inscription, SIG 794 (Dittenberger, W., ed., Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum [4th ed.; 4 vols.; repr. Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1960] 2.477–8Google Scholar).

14 Deissmann, Adolf, Light from the Ancient East (repr.; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978) 435–8Google Scholar; cf. Robertson and Blass-Debrunner-Funk, op. cit. See also under ‘Names, Personal’ in the Oxford Classical Dictionary, 720–1.

15 Gildersleeve, B. L. and Lodge, G., Latin Grammar (3rd ed.; New York: Macmillan, 1895, 1986) 493Google Scholar; Hale, W. G. and Buck, C. D., A Latin Grammar (repr., Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 1988) 358Google Scholar; OCD loc. cit. For a fuller discussion of Roman names, see ‘Appendix I: Roman Names’ in John Edwin Sandys, Latin Epigraphy (repr., Groningen: Bouma [1969] 207–21)Google Scholar; see also under ‘Namenwesen’ in Pauly-Wissowa, , Realenzyklopädie der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft (49 vols., including supplements; Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmüller, 1893–1978)Google Scholar.

16 Varro claims that there are a thousand nomina (De Praen. 3; cited in Sandys, op. cit., 211). Besides the nomina, other masculine Latin names in -us often have corresponding feminine forms in -a, e.g., Priscus/Prisca; however, those masculine names in -a which have corresponding feminine forms do not have the feminine form also in -a, but rather form the feminine by means of a diminutive suffix, e.g., Agrippa/Agrippina.

17 For a thorough discussion of this clan and some of its members, see the entry under ‘Iunius’ in Pauly-Wissowa, Realenzyklopädie, 10.1.959–1114.

18 References to these names in the Twelve Caesars are as follows: Iunia Calvina (Vespasian 23.4); Iunia Claudilla (Caligula 12.1–2). A number of men are also mentioned: Iunius Novatus (Augustus 51.1); Iunius Rusticus (Domitian 10.3); and L. Iunius Silanus (Claudius 24.5); et al.

19 Iunia Calvina (12.4; 14.12); Iunia Silana (11.12; 13.19; 14.12); Iunia, the sister of Brutus (3.76).

20 The Latin Anthology is a collection of short poems by various authors. The text can be found in Buecheler, F., Riese, A, and Lommatzsch, E., eds., Anthologia Latina (5 vols.; Leipzig: Teubner, 1894–1926)Google Scholar.

21 Hermann, Dessau, ed., Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae (5 vols.; repr. Chicago: Ares, 1979 [1892–1916])Google Scholar. See the indices for further names and references.

22 Carmen 61.16.

23 E.g., Tacitus Annals 2.28; 3.76; 4.64, etc.; Histories 1.59; 3.38, etc.; Caesar Gallic War 5.27–8; Spanish Wars 16; Pliny Natural History 2.202; 8.145; 15.2, etc.; Livy History of Rome 1.58.6; 22.59.1, etc. See also the entries under this name in the ‘Index’ of the OCD for additional members of this clan, as well as Pauly-Wissowa, op. cit.

24 Plutarch's Lives of Fabius Maximus 9.4 and Brutus 7.1; Diodorus Siculus’ Histories 10.22; 18.2.1; 20.3.1; etc.; Polybius' Histories 1.52.5–6; 3.22.1; etc.

25 Piper and Grudem, 80.

26 See Moulton-Howard, op. cit.

27 All these Latin names, and many more, can be found in Plutarch's Lives, and elsewhere in Greek documents of the Roman period.

28 Smyth, H. W., Greek Grammar (revised; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1920, 1956) § 197Google Scholar; Moulton-Howard-Turner, 3.22, 311–12. Cf. Gildersleeve, B. L., Syntax of Classical Greek (repr.; Groningen: Bouma [1980] § 481)Google Scholar and Blass-Debrunner-Funk § 134 for examples of other anomalies in the use of gender in Greek. A similar principle is also operative in Hebrew (Kautzsch, E. and Cowley, A. E., Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (2nd ed.; Oxford: University [1910] §§ 122g, 1350, 144a)Google Scholar, in Latin (Gildersleeve & Lodge, § 286), and in other languages.

29 Smyth, §§ 1491–4 and 1755–8; see also Moulton-Howard-Turner, 3.240, 274–5.