Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

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Emma Ehrhardt
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Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

Post by Emma Ehrhardt »

Another accent has me confused.

Acts 25:26 "βασιλεῦ Ἀγρίππα, ὅπως τῆς ἀνακρίσεως γενομένης σχῶ τί γράψω·"
(NASB) "King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write"

My understanding is that τί is actually from τις here, not τίς. But if it means 'something' here, where is it picking up an accent from? I don't expect γραφω or εχω to contribute one.

I could only find one other NT example where τις picks up an accent, but in that case it's because it precedes ειμι. (Ac 25:25)
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cwconrad
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Re: Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

Post by cwconrad »

Emma Ehrhardt wrote:Another accent has me confused.

Acts 25:26 "βασιλεῦ Ἀγρίππα, ὅπως τῆς ἀνακρίσεως γενομένης σχῶ τί γράψω·"
(NASB) "King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write"

My understanding is that τί is actually from τις here, not τίς. But if it means 'something' here, where is it picking up an accent from? I don't expect γραφω or εχω to contribute one.

I could only find one other NT example where τις picks up an accent, but in that case it's because it precedes ειμι. (Ac 25:25)
I suspect that the translation may have confused you. τί is here the interrogative pronoun, and the construction is what's called an "indirect question"; more literally, this is: " ... so that I may have what I am to write." The direct question is: τί γράψω, "What am I to write?" or "What should I write?" Although the indirect interrogative form ὅ τι could have been used here, idiomatic usage tends often to use the the regular interrogative word. Compare Luke 9:58:
αἱ ἀλώπεκες φωλεοὺς ἔχουσιν καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατασκηνώσεις, ὁ δὲ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἔχει ποῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν κλίνῃ.
See further BDF §368.
οὔτοι ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς πάντα θεοὶ θνητοῖς ὑπέδειξαν,
ἀλλὰ χρόνῳ ζητέοντες ἐφευρίσκουσιν ἄμεινον. (Xenophanes, Fragment 16)

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
Emma Ehrhardt
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Re: Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

Post by Emma Ehrhardt »

Correction, the other NT instance I mentioned is in Acts 25:5, not Acts 25:25.
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Stephen Carlson
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Re: Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

Post by Stephen Carlson »

Emma Ehrhardt wrote:Correction, the other NT instance I mentioned is in Acts 25:5, not Acts 25:25.
Acts 25:5 Οἱ οὖν ἐν ὑμῖν, φησίν, δυνατοὶ συγκαταβάντες εἴ τί ἐστιν ἐν τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἄτοπον κατηγορείτωσαν αὐτοῦ.

Here, τι gets the accent because it is followed by the two-syllable enclitic ἐστίν.
Stephen C. Carlson, Ph.D.
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Emma Ehrhardt
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Re: Accentuation of τί in "σχῶ τί γράψω·"

Post by Emma Ehrhardt »

cwconrad wrote:I suspect that the translation may have confused you.
Yes, your explanation makes sense. I was also thrown off since MorphGNT tags this as coming from τις, not τίς. I'll report that bug to James.
Emma Ehrhardt
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