Digital Dictionary of Rare Lexemes in Symmachus’ Psalter

Lemma ἐκ-βλαστᾶν Etymology
Related ἐκ-βλαστάνειν (cf. Num 17:5; Isa 55:10; Job 38:27; which could also be analyzed as ἐκ-βλαστᾶν)

ἐκ + βλαστᾶν (post-classical variant of ἐκ-βλαστάνειν, formed from the aorist; cf. BDF §101 on βλαστᾶν<βλαστάνειν)
English transl. to cause to sprout
German transl. hervorsprießen lassen
Evidence ἐκβλαστῶν
(verb, participle, nom. masc. sg.)		 Ps 103:14a σ′
(Theodoret; Ra 1138 [Theodoret s.n.]: ἐκβλαστάνων)		 צמח) מַצְמִיחַ)
Equivalents LXX ἐξανατέλλω
 Ps 103:14a ἐξανατέλλων
MT צמח
 Ps 104:14a מַצְמִיחַ (hifil)
Bibliography: Busto Saiz (1978: 499); Lust (2000) s.v. ἐκβλαστέω: “to cause to grow, to produce“ צמח; Gesenius (2013: 1123).

Symmachus uses the lexeme ἐκβλαστεῖν in his translation of Psalm 103[104]:14. This verse reads as follows in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text:

 

LXX Ps 103:14a–c, ed. A. Rahlfs

MT Ps 104:14a–c, ed. H. Bardtke (BHS)

ἐξανατέλλων χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσιν

καὶ χλόην τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων

τοῦ ἐξαγαγεῖν ἄρτον ἐκ τῆς γῆς

מַצְמִ֤יחַ חָצִ֨יר׀ לַבְּהֵמָ֗ה 

וְ֭עֵשֶׂב לַעֲבֹדַ֣ת הָאָדָ֑ם 

להֹ֥וצִיא לֶ֝֗חֶם מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

English translation by NETS:

English translation by NJPS:

when he causes grass to grow for the cattle,

and plants for the service of human beings,

to bring forth bread from the earth.

You make the grass grow for the cattle,

and herbage for humans’ labor

that they may get food out of the earth—

German translation by LXX.D:

German translation by Elberfelder:

Der Gras hervorsprießen lässt für das Vieh 

und grünes Kraut zum Dienst der Menschen, 

um Brot hervorzubringen aus der Erde;

Der Gras hervorsprossen lässt für das Vieh 

und Pflanzen zum Dienst des Menschen, 

damit er Brot hervorbringe aus der Erde

Hexaplaric Evidence for ἐκβλαστεῖν (σ' Ps 103:14a)

The Göttingen Hexapla Database, which is in its Beta version, gives the following information for Psalm 103:14a:

 

LXX Ps 103:14a

MT Ps 104:14a

LXX

MT

σ'

ἐξανατέλλων

מַצְמִיחַ

ἐκβλαστῶν Field

χόρτον

חָצִיר

χόρτον Field

τοῖς κτήνεσιν

לַבְּהֵמָה

τοῖς κτήνεσι Field

MT

The Tiberian Masoretic Text reads מַצְמִיחַ, a masculine singular participle in the hiphil stem from the root צמח. The qalstem of this verbal root is intransitive and means “to sprout” or “to grow,” usually referring to a plant (e.g., Gen 2:5; Exod 10:5).[1] The hiphil stem can be transitive – “to cause a plant to sprout” (e.g., Gen 2:9) – or ditransitive – “to cause something (e.g., the ground) to sprout a plant” (e.g., Ps 147:8).[2] In Psalm 104[103]:14, the verb is transitive: “to cause grass to sprout/grow.” The following chart shows each occurrence of the hiphil verb הִצְמִיחַ.[3]

 

צמח hiphil

Gen 2:9

וַיַּצְמַח

καὶ ἐξανέτειλεν (LXX)[4]

ἀνατέλλω

ἐξανατέλλω

 

βλαστάνω

βλαστήσαι ποεῖν

ἐκβλαστάνω

ἐκβλαστέω (?)

Gen 3:18

תַּצְמִיחַ

ἀνατελεῖ (LXX)[5]

Deut 29:23[22]

תַצְמִחַ

ἀνατελεῖ (LXX)[6]

2 Sam 23:5

יַצְמִיחַ

βλαστήσῃ (LXX)[7]

Isa 45:8

תַצְמִיחַ

ἀνατειλάτω (LXX)[8]

Isa 55:10

וְהִצְמִיחָהּ

καὶ ἐκβλαστήσῃ (LXX)[9]

καὶ βλαστήσαι αὐτὴν ποιήσει (σ')[10]

Isa 61:11a

תַצְמִיחַ

ανατελεῖ (σ')[11]

Isa 61:11b

יַצְמִיחַ

ἀνατελεῖ (LXX)[12]

Jer 33:15

אַצְמִיחַ

ἀνατελῶ (θ')[13]

Ezek 29:21

אַצְמִיחַ

ἀνατελεῖ (LXX)[14]

Ps 104[103]:14

מַצְמִיחַ

ἐξανατέλλων (LXX)[15]

ἐκβλαστῶν (σ')

Ps 132[131]:17

אַצְמִיחַ

ἐξανατελῶ (LXX)[16]

Ps 147[146]:8

הַמַּצְמִיחַ

τῷ ἐξανατέλλοντι (LXX)[17]

Job 38:27

וּלְהַצְמִיחַ

καὶ τοῦ ἐκβλαστῆσαι (LXX, asterisked)[18]

LXX

In Psalm 103[104]:14, the Septuagint uses the verb ἐξανατέλλων (lexical form: ἐξανατέλλω), which means “to cause sth (τι) to spring up” (e.g., Gen 2:9; Pss 131:17; 146:8).[19] The Psalms translator uses this verb four times, twice to translate צמח (hiphil) (Pss 103:14; 131:17; 146:8) and once, with an intransitive sense, to translate the verb זרח (qal) (Ps 111:4).

Symmachus

For Psalm 103[104]:14a, only the translation of Symmachus is attested among the later Greek translations. The Göttingen Hexapla Database (Beta) has drawn this Symmachus reading from Field’s edition: “ἐκβλαστῶν χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσι.”[20]As his source for this reading, Field cites “Theodoret., Reg. unus. Montef. edidit ἐκβλαστάνων, fortasse ex Agellio.”[21]The reference to “Reg.” appears to refer to “Codex Reg. num 1807,”[22] which is now catalogued as Grec 146 in the Bibliotèque nationale in Paris (= Ra 1138).[23] As Field notes, however, Montfaucon gives a slightly different reading: ἐκβλαστάνων instead of ἐκβλαστῶν.[24] Moreover, although he gives a slightly different reading, Montfaucon cites the same witnesses as Field: “Hunc Symmachi locum plenum habeor unus Regius & Theodoretus.”[25] Field suggests that Montfaucon got the reading ἐκβλαστάνων “ex Agellio” – a reference to the Psalms commentary by Antonius Agellius.[26] Commenting on Psalm 103[104]:14–15, Agellius cites Theodoret’s quotation of Symmachus: “Sic autem transtulit ille [= Symmachus], teste Theodorito: Ἐκβλαστάνων χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσι…”[27] The following section discusses these sources.

Manuscript Attestation and Patristic Evidence

Theodoret

Theodoret’s quotation of Symmachus can be seen, for example, in Ra 9050. The quotation begins on page 244v, at the bottom of the page. The reading ἐκβλαστῶν appears as the first word on the last row:

 

A close up of a documentAI-generated content may be incorrect.

Paris, BN, Grec 844 (Ra 9050), f. 244v

 

The passage, together with its immediate context, reads as follows according to the Göttingen preliminary edition (Th.103.56).[28] The English translation is by Robert Hill.[29]

 

Σαφέστερον δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος εἴρηκεν·

Ἐκβλαστῶν χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσι, 

καὶ χλόην τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· 

εἰς τὸ ἐκφῦσαι τροφὴν ἀπὸ γῆς, 

καὶ οἶνον εὐφραίνειν καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου· 

στίλβειν πρόσωπον ἐν ἐλαίῳ, 

καὶ ἄρτον καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου στηρίζειν

 

Ἐπὶ τοῦτο γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τῇ γῇ τοὺς ὑετοὺς διηνεκῶς χορηγεῖ, ὥστε τοὺς παντοδαποὺς βλαστῆσαι καρποὺς, καὶ ἄρτῳ μὲν στηρίξαι καὶ διαθρέψαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν φύσιν· οἴνῳ δὲ εὐφρᾶναι καὶ θυμηρεστέραν ἐργάσασθαι τὴν ζωήν· ἐλαίῳ δὲ οὐ μόνον ἔνδοθεν διαθρέψαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔξωθεν λαμπρῦναι τὰ σώματα.

Symmachus, on the other hand, said it more clearly, “Growing grass for cattle and crops for the service of human beings so that nourishment may spring from the earth and wine cheer the human heart, brighten the face with oil, and bread strengthen the human heart.”

 

This is the reason, he is saying, that the God of all constantly provides rain for the earth, to make fruits of all kinds grow, to strengthen and nourish human nature with bread, with wine to give cheer and to make life more satisfying, and with oil not only to nourish from within but also to make the bodies glisten on the outside.

 

Ra 1138

The manuscript Paris, BN, Grec 146 (Ra 1138), which Field and Montfaucon cite as “Reg.,” “contains the psalms and odes surrounded by a Catena commentary.”[30] One of the passages in the Catena commentary on Psalm 103:14 is the Theodoret passage cited above (beginning with Σαφέστερον and concluding with τὸ σώμα), though the passage is not attributed to him by name in the Catena. As it appears in this manuscript, the passage reads ἐκβλαστάνων instead of ἐκβλαστῶν:

 

Paris, BN, Grec 146 (Ra 1138) f. 180r

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52513306h/f363

 

Agellius and Montfaucon appear to base their citation of Theodoret, if not on this manuscript, then on another copy of the same passage which shares the reading ἐκβλαστάνων.

Refined Representation of Hexaplaric Evidence (σ' Ps 103:14a)

Theodoret appears to be the only patristic witness to Symmachus’s translation of Psalm 103:14a.[31] The passage in Ra 1138 is not an independent witness, but a variant within the tradition of Theodoret’s commentary. The reading ἐκβλαστάνων in Ra 1138 can be explained as a facilitating reading. A scribe copying the passage used ἐκβλαστάνωνinstead of ἐκβλαστῶν because the former is a more familiar form.[32] A refined representation of the reading in question and its attestation looks like this:

 

LXX Ps 103:14a

MT Ps 104:14a

LXX

MT

σ'

ἐξανατέλλων

מַצְמִיחַ

ἐκβλαστῶν (Theodoret; variant: ἐκβλαστάνων [Ra 1138 Theodoret])

χόρτον

חָצִיר

χόρτον (Theodoret)

τοῖς κτήνεσιν

לַבְּהֵמָה

τοῖς κτήνεσι (Theodoret)

Analysis of σ' ἐκβλαστεῖν in Ps 103:14a

The word ἐκβλαστῶν, used by Symmachus in Psalm 103[104]:5 to translate the Hebrew word מַצְמִיחַ, is a masculine singular present active participle. Given the context of the passage (object: χόρτον) and the obvious relation to the Greek root βλαστ-, the meaning of the verb seems clear: “to [cause to] sprout.” The etymology of the word, however, is more difficult to establish. The lexica consulted reconstruct the base form as ἐκβλαστέω, though, theoretically, the base form could also be ἐκβλαστάω or ἐκβλαστόω. Several of the lexica consulted do not include the word at all.[33] Those which do include it treat it as follows:

 

Schleusner, Thesaurus I (1829 [London edn]), 

ἘΚΒΛΑΣΤΑ´ΝΩ, germino, progermino. הִצְמִיחַ, Hiph. germinare facio. Symm. Ps. CIII. 14. ἐκβλαστάνων. Theodoretus p. 1335. habet ἐκβλαστῶν.

Dimitrakos, Λεξικόν V (1949), 2315

ἐκβλαστῶ-έω μτγν. ἐκβλαστάνω βλ.λ. : Σύμμ. ψαλμ.ΠΔ103[104],14.

Liddell and Scott, Lexicon (1996), 502

ἐκβλαστέω, = foreg. [ἐκβλαστάνω], Sm.Ps.103(104).14

Adrados, et al., DGE (2006)

ἐκβλαστέω

hacer brotar, producir χόρτον τοῖς κτήνεσι Sm.Ps.103.14.

Montanari, Dictionary (2015), 624

ἐκβλαστέω, contr. VT (Sym.) Ps. 103.14, see ἐκβλαστάνω.

Montanari, Wörterbuch (2023), 588

ἐκβλαστέω, kontr. VT (Sym.) Ps. 103.14, s. ἐκβλαστάνω.

 

            Despite the fact that the lexica assume the base form ἐκβλαστέω, a contract verb ending in -άω is also plausible, perhaps more so. The verb βλαστάω (without the prefixed preposition ἐκ-) occurs several times in post-classical Jewish literature (Eccl 2:6; Mk 4:27; Hermas 53:1–2 [x3]). For example, Ecclesiastes 2:6 mentions “a grove sprouting (βλαστῶντα) trees” (NETS).[34] Note that the verb here is transitive, just as in Psalm 103:14.[35] Note also that base form of this verb (present participle, masculine, accusative, singular) cannot be βλαστέω or βλαστόω (both of which would be βλαστοῦντα) or βλαστάνω (which would be βλαστανόντα), but must be βλαστάω. The same form, βλαστῶντα(this time as a neuter plural participle), also occurs in the Shepherd of Hermas 53:1–2 (δένδρα βλαστῶντα), where the sense of the verb, as in Ecclesiastes 2:6, is likely transitive, with an implied patient: “trees sprouting [fruit]” (cf. 53:3).[36]The verb βλαστάω also occurs in Mark 4:27: “and the seed would sprout (βλαστᾷ) and grow” (NRSVue).[37] In light of these examples, it seems likely that the verb Symmachus uses in Psalm 103:14, ἐκ-βλαστῶν, would be related to the base form ἐκ-βλαστάω. The base form ἐκ-βλαστέω is also plausible, though attestation for this verb in a post-classical Jewish context is not as strong.[38]

            The form βλαστάω is, according to LSJ, a “late form of βλαστάνω.”[39] It is easy to see how this form would have developed from the aorist form ἐβλάστησα: the application of sigmatic aorist endings to the aorist stem (βλαστ-) led to a reanalysis of the form (βλαστάνω  βλαστάω).[40] The addition of the ἐκ- prefix probably does not significantly change the meaning of the verb (cf. ἀνατέλλω vs ἐξανατέλλω; βλαστάνω vs ἐκβλαστάνω). Thus, ἐκ-βλαστάω can be regarded as a variant form of ἐκ-βλαστάνω. It is impossible to say with certainty whether or not ἐκβλαστάω is a hapax legomenon, because forms such as ἐκβλαστήσῃ (Isa 55:10) and ἐκβλαστῆσαι (Job 38:27), which are usually considered examples of the verb ἐκβλαστάνω, could also be analyzed as examples of ἐκβλαστάω.[41]


            [1] Ludwig Köhler/Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. M.E.J. Richardson (Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000), 1033–4; cf. Wilhelm Gesenius, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, ed. Herbert Donner, 18th edn (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2013), 1123.

            [2] Cf. Köhler/Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1034.

            [3] Abraham Even-Shoshan, ed., קונקורדנציה חדשׁה לתורה נביאים וכתובים, 4th edn (Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sefer, 1983), 989.

            [4] John William Wevers, ed., Genesis, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum I (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1974), 84.

            [5] Wevers, Genesis, 93. 

            [6] John William Wevers, ed., Deuteronomium, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum III,2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977), 322.

            [7] Alfred Rahlfs/Robert Hanhart, eds., Septuaginta, editio altera (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006), 617.

            [8] Joseph Ziegler, ed., Isaias, 2nd edn, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XIV (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967), 292.

            [9] Ziegler, Isaias, 329 

            [10] Ziegler, Isaias, 328–9. 

            [11] Ziegler, Isaias, 350. 

            [12] Ziegler, Isaias, 350. 

            [13] Joseph Ziegler, ed., Ieremias, Baruch, Threni, Epistula Ieremiae, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XV (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1957), 379.

            [14] Joseph Ziegler, ed., Ezechiel, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XVI,1 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1952), 230.

            [15] Alfred Rahlfs, Psalmi cum Odis (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1931), 259. 

            [16] Rahlfs, Psalmi cum Odis, 314. 

            [17] Rahlfs, Psalmi cum Odis, 335. 

            [18] Joseph Ziegler, ed., Iob, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XI, 4 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982), 388. 

            [19] Takamitsu Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Louvain: Peeters, 2009), 246.

            [20] Frederick Field, Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt, vol. 2 Job–Malachi (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1875), 259.

            [21] Field, Origenis Hexaplorum, 259.

            [22] Field, Origenis Hexaplorum, 83. 

            [23] Alfred Rahlfs, Verzeichnis der griechischen Handschriften des Alten Testaments, für das Septuaginta-Unternehmen aufgestellt (Berlin: Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, 1914), 201.

            [24] Bernard de Montfaucon, Hexaplorum Origenis quae supersunt, multis partibus auctiora, quam a Flaminio Nobilio & Joanne Drusio edita fuerint [...] (Paris: apud Ludovicum Guerin, viduam Joannis Boudot, et Carolum Robustel, 1713), 618.

            [25] Montfaucon, Hexaplorum Origenis, 619.

            [26] Antonius Agellius, Commentarii in Psalmos (Romae: ex Typographia Vaticana, 1606).

            [27] Agellius, Commentarii in Psalmos, 469.

            [29] Theodoret, Commentary on the Psalms, vol. 2, trans. Robert C. Hill, The Fathers of the Church 102 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2001), 165.

            [30] Margherita Matera, “Ra 1138,” Göttinger Septuaginta, 2021, https://septuaginta.uni-goettingen.de/catalogue/Ra_1138/.

            [31] There is nothing in the margins of the Syro-Hexapla for Psalm 103:14. 

            [32] Alternatively, if ἐκβλαστάνων is the earlier reading, then ἐκβλαστῶν might have originated by haplography (ανων  ων).

            [33] It is not included, for example, in Biel and Mutzenbecher (Thesaurus I), Stephanus (Thesaurus III), or Bailly 2020 – Hugo Chávez (Dictionnaire).

            [34] Peter Gentry, ed., Ecclesiastes, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XI,2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2019), 139.

            [35] So NETS. It is also possible, however, that βλαστῶντα is a neuter plural participle modifying ξύλα, in which case the verb would be intransitive. 

            [36] Michael W. Holmes, J.B. Lightfoot, and J.R. Harmer, eds., The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 3rd edn (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).

            [37] The verb βλαστᾷ in this passage could be either intransitive (“the seed would sprout”) or transitive (“the seed would sprout [a sprout]”). The same form, βλαστᾷ, also occurs in a scholium on Pindar (Pyth. IV 113a): θάλλει καὶ βλαστᾷ ὁ Ἀρκεσίλαος. See A.B. Drachmann, ed., Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina, vol 2: Scholia in Pythionicas (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1964), 114.

            [38] For the lexeme βλαστέω, see Franco Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 390, and James Diggle, ed., The Cambridge Greek Lexicon (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020), I, 282.

            [39] Henry George Liddell/Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn, ed. Henry Stuart Jones (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1996), 317.

            [40] Cf. Friedrich Blass and Albert Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, ed. Robert W. Funk (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), §75, §101.

            [41] See also, e.g., ἐκβλαστήσαντα (Chrysostom, De siccitate; PG 61, p. 723); ἐκβλαστήσῃ (Evagrius, Tractatus ad eulogium; PG 79, p. 1128); ἐκβλαστήσασα (Gregory of Nyssa, De opificio hominis; PG 44, p. 132); ἐκβλαστήσασαν (S. Pétridès, “Deux Canons Inédits de Georges Skylitzès,” VV 10 [1903]: 460–94, on p. 482, line 18). The Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität (ed. Erich Trapp) lists the last of these examples under ἐκβλαστέω. 
Acknowledgements

Author: Ryan Sikes
Revisor(s): Felix Albrecht, Stefan Schorch
Contributor: Johannes Gronemann (lemma data curation)
Technical Infrastructure: Malte Rosenau (interface design)
Permalink: https://septuaginta.uni-goettingen.de/lexicon/article/ekblastein/

This entry was prepared by Ryan Sikes and revised by Felix Albrecht and Stefan Schorch within the framework of the DFG–ISF project “Digital Dictionary of Rare Lexemes in Symmachus’ Psalter: Laying the Foundation for a Comprehensive Lexicon of Jewish Revisions of the Septuagint”. Digital infrastructure and interface design by Malte Rosenau.

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