In Koine Greek, are the words for sun (helios) and son (huios) ever used as a pun?

by Mr_Dr_Prof_Derp

I noticed that the two are pronounced very similarly:

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G2246&t=NASB

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G5207&t=NASB

The question is inspired by Mark 16, where the women come to Jesus's tomb "at the rising of the sun," and are then told "he is risen." If this is a possible pun, is it used elsewhere in ancient Greek literature?

talondearg

Speaking as someone who spends a lot of time in Koine Greek literature, the answer is "not that I'm aware of."

They seem close in pronunciation at a surface level "from the outside", but they are not actually that close in pronunciation - apart from the endings of these two words they have very little in common. And those endings are shared with vast number of Greek nouns.

In Mark 16, the phrase expressing the rising of the sun is ἀνατείλαντος τοῦ ἡλίου. While the expression for 'he is raised' is ἠγέρθη. These are entirely unrelated verbs, not punning on 'rising' as the English does.

Is it possible to make a play on words with 'rising' in Koine? Yes, I'd say it's possible. Are there any extant puns between sun-son, ἥλιος and υἱός ? Not that I've ever encountered (though I confess that 'all Greek literature' is a broad field and it's possible I've not got there yet).