Rita wrote
I studied the vocabularies of Chapter 4-14 in the textbook of “Basics of Biblical Greek” written by W. D. Mounce and try to classify their nature facilitating my revision. There are 3 words which puzzle me:
The noun declensions are not based on gender, but on ending types. The 1st declension (alpha/eta endings) is mostly feminine. But there are some masculine nouns in it (Several groups). The largest being like προφήτης / νεναίας. These nouns use the masculine article, and are declined like all other words ending in -η / -α except in the genitive (which has the -ου ending). You can see these categories declined in Smyth's grammar (feminines §216, masculines §221
http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/htm ... bstantives. There are a few other forms (contract nouns) which have the eta/alpha endings (cf. Smyth §227).
1. προφήτης, -ου, ὁ
By deducing from the article, this word should be neuter. Thus, it should be 2nd declension noun. However, in the textbook (See p. 347), it is grouped under the category of 1st declension noun. Why?
I assume you meant, that from the article, it should be masculine, and thus 2nd declension. It is a 1st declension noun because the endings are alpha/eta endings (except for the genitive singular).
2. ὁδός, -οῦ, ἡ
Likewise, I perceive this word be the 1st declension noun because of the article. However, in the textbook (See p. 347), it is grouped under the category of 2nd declension noun. Why?
Unfortunately, Mounce does not give the article above the noun types. ὁδός takes omicron endings but is feminine in gender. n-2a, n-1d(1), and n-2d-3 patterns are masculine; n-2b are feminine; n-2c and n-2d(2) are neuter. Omicron endings are 2nd declension. Most omicron ending nouns are either masculine (-ος) or neuter (-ον). But there is a small category of them which are feminine. The feminine nouns decline exactly like the masculine (-ος) nouns, except that they have the feminine article and thus have to have feminine modifiers (feminine adjectives, participles, ktl.) See Smyth §230
http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/htm ... 2c_uni.htm
3. αἰώνιος, -ον Is this word belonged to 3-3 adjective?
αἰώνιος fits in a small category of adjectives (5 total in the NT) which Mounce classifies as a-3b(1). "Stems alternating between two (2-2) [like ἁμαρτωλός] and three (2-1-2) endings (feminine in -α) [like ἅγιος]" These adjectives usually only have the masculine and neuter forms. The masculine form is often used for the feminine form, but occasionally, the feminine form has the -α adjective endings. See Smyth §287 vs §289
http://www.ccel.org/s/smyth/grammar/htm ... 2h_uni.htm. So αἰώνιος is usually an adjective of two terminations (2-2), but can sometimes be declined as an adjective of 3 terminations (2-1-2). (The 2-2, 2-1-2 refers to the corresponding noun declension type).
Smyth's grammar, which does not use Mounce's numbering classifications is really a much better overview of the noun endings. Smyth gives the articles and glosses. It the the standard grammar for Classical Greek - Mark Lightman once wrote (cross out the Title and write Koine Greek Grammar on the cover). Every serious student of Greek needs to get a copy of Smyth. Mounce's categories are further identified in his book "The Morphology of Bilbical Greek." In that book, he puts every NT word into its own inflectional category and gives the declension of each type in full. You can read more online about these noun types by looking at the Funk "A Beginning-Intermediate Grammar of Hellenistic Greek" which B-Greek hosts online. It can be found at
http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/project/f ... pre-alpha/