Syntax of Mark 2:2

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Apr 12 19:59:12 EDT 1999


At 4:40 PM -0700 4/12/99, Hultberg, Alan wrote:
>Mark 2:2 contains the (compound?) result clause [many had gathered together]
>hWSTE MHKETI CWREIN MHDE TA PROS THN QURAN.  The two alternatives to
>understanding this seem to be 1) to take hWSTE MHKETI CWREIN as the primary
>result ("so that [the house could] no longer contain [them]") and MHDE TA PROS
>THN QURAN as an amplification of that primary result ("not even at the door")
>or 2) to take MHDE TA PROS THN QURAN as the accusative "subject" of CWREIN
>("so that not even the area around the door [could] contain [them] any
>longer").
>
>A couple questions:  Which alternative is better?  Why an accusative *plural*
>article (TA)?
>
>On the first question Mark 3:20 may be instructive ([the crowd came together
>again], hWSTE MH DUNASQAI AUTOUS MHDE ARTON FAGEIN); it seems to argue for the
>first alternative.
>
>Any suggestions?

I have suggested previously on this question the view that CWREIN should be
understood here impersonally and that TA PROS THN QURAN should be
understood as an adverbial accusative, yielding as a whole construction:
"so that there was no 'give' (no marginal room for expansion), not even
(the areas) near the door.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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