Re: Masculine pronominal adjectives

Mary L B Pendergraft (pender@wfu.edu)
Fri, 07 Nov 1997 10:17:48 -0500

At 05:14 PM 11/6/97 -0600, Ted Clarke wrote:
>Dear b-greek listers:
>
>Do the pronominal adjectives TISIN (1 Timothy 1:3) and TINES (1:6), which
>are listed in the Friberg Analytical Greek New Testament as masculine
>plurals, include the possibility of feminine teachers being under
>consideration, or are the masculine designations exclusive? Of course, I am
>asking for grammatical possibilities here. What of the noun form for
>"teachers of the law" (NOMODIDASKALOI), which is also given as masculine
>plural? Does the masculine gender include the possibility of feminine
>"teachers of the law," or does it exclude them?

TISIN and TINES are the indefinitive pronouns "someone," "some folks," for
which masculine & feminine forms are identical.
I imagine that grammatically NOMODIDASKALOI could include feminine
individuals; the participles that agree with this noun, THELONTES &
NOOUNTES, are masculine, altho' it is regular usage to use masculine
participles & adjectives for a group that includes both men & women.

>
>If the masculine forms of the adjectives and noun above do not necessarily
>exclude the feminine, how does one tell when only the masculine is intended?

You've hit on a good point: what can be shown from grammar is not always
what can be shown with other arguments. The grammar doesn't exclude women.
It may be (I haven't looked) that every other example we have of
NOMODIDASKALOS is unambiguously applied to a man; that information would
increase the likelihood that only men are at issue here.

>Are there neuter forms for the pronominal adjectives which would make them
>inclusive of both genders? If so, are these neuter forms always used when
>the author desires to be inclusive of both genders?

It is very rare to use neuter forms for people. To include both genders
you'd use the masculine.

Additionally, while
>this may sound like a foolish question (I do admit my ignorance of so much
>of the Greek, but I am trying to learn), is there ever an example where the
>masculine form is used where the masculine would not be included? The
>reason I ask is that I heard a presentation by a "distinguished" professor
>of Greek who stated that the "some" (King James) of 1 Timothy 1:3, 6 HAD TO
>BE the "rebellious women" (the professor's words) Paul restricted in
>2:11-12. Can such a claim be sustained, considering the pronominal
>adjectives and noun above are masculine?

This is the other side of your first question, isn't it? The grammar can
allow this passage to include women, but it doesn't require it to. Yet, in
view of the masculine participles, I'd find it difficult to imagine that it
refers _only_ to women.

It's not a foolish question if it's something you need to know.

>
>One final request. I would like to able to document these matters. Any
>help you could give me in locating sources which address these questions
>would be appreciated. I am not asking these questions in order to attack
>the mentioned Greek professor (if he truly is one), I simply want to know
>the grammatical truth of the matter.
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Ted Clarke

How about:

Goodwin's _Greek Grammar_, as one ex. from many, for masc. including fem.,
section 924.

Any grammar will show that the indefinite (like the interrogative) TIS is
the same for m & f.

Blass & Debrunner, trsn. Funk, _Greek Grammar of the NT_, section 138,
discuss peculiarities of gender and explain some apparent anomalies, none
of which seems applicable here.

Mary

Mary Pendergraft
Associate Professor of Classical Languages
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem NC 27109 910-759-5331 pender@wfu.edu