\ifdefiningfootnotes

\DeclareFixedFootnote{\fnParthenos}{PARTHENOS. In general Greek usage, PARTHENOS denotes an 
unmarried young woman of marriageable age --- the emphasis falls on social/marital status rather 
than on a biological claim. Virginity is typically assumed as part of that status, but is not 
the word's primary content.
\fnPar{}
The interpretive crux lies one layer back, in the Septuagint. Isaiah 7:14 uses Hebrew ALMAH, 
which means simply 'young woman' and does not specify virginity — Hebrew has a more precise 
word for virgin, BETULAH, which Isaiah does not use. The LXX translators nonetheless rendered 
ALMAH as PARTHENOS. Matthew 1:23 quotes this Greek text, not the Hebrew, and builds directly on 
the LXX's choice of word.
\fnPar{}
Matthew reinforces the virginal reading beyond the citation itself: Mary is described as PARTHENOS 
at the betrothal (1:18), Joseph is said not to have known her 'until' she bore her son (1:25), and 
the conception is attributed to the Holy Spirit before the couple came together (Matt 1:18). 
The virgin birth claim, in other words, rests on Matthew's own narrative assertions 
as much as on the PARTHENOS citation — the Isaiah quotation supplies scriptural warrant, 
but the substance of the claim is carried by the surrounding Greek text itself.
}
\fi
