Saturday, January 07, 2006

 

King of Kings, and Lord of Lords

Even those who don't read the Bible might be familiar with the phrase "King of kings, and Lord of lords" from the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel's Messiah. It occurs in the New Testament at 1 Timothy 6.15 and Revelation 19.16. Here are some similar examples of this locution:Joining a singular noun with its own genitive plural is apparently a common way to express a superlative in Hebrew.

Off the top of my head I can't think of any classical Greek examples, but Guillermo Galán Vioque, in his commentary on Martial 7.70.1 (tribadum tribas), gives the following Latin examples:



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