Syntax of Mark 2:2

George Blaisdell maqhth at hotmail.com
Mon Apr 12 20:59:29 EDT 1999





>From: C. Navarro

>The sentence is very clear to me.

>hWSTE MHKETI XWREIN MHDE TA PROS THN QURAN-
>so that neither the house nor the courtyard                       
>could  contain them anymore.

Senor Navarro ~

When I read your posts [like this one], my joy is full indeed!  And I 
can tell you, at least speaking for myself, I struggle much less with 
your English than with Greek!  Your English is just fine!!

Thank-you!

>The Greeks use sparingly words that mean things like "situation", 

"courtyard",
>"household", and other abstract words. Instead of these words, they 

prefer
>a sentence to explain the concept. That sentence is always preceded 

by
>an article. The construction is that of a PROSDIORISMON without the
>OUSIASTIKON, i.e., a qualifying phrase without the name that means
>"situation", "courtyard", or "household". For instance, instead of 

saying "The
>situation
>of the war", Greeks say TA TOU POLEMOU. Instead of saying "the king's 

household"
>the they say hOI PARA BASILEWS. Finally, instead of saying
>'the courtyard", they say "TA PROS THN QURAN".  In all these examples
>(from the litterature, but don't ask me to give the exact citation), 

you have
>the PROSDIORISMOS without the OUSIASTIKON, i.e., attributes (this is 

how
>Carl calls PROSDIORISMON) without the corresponding name, that
>may be a situation, the courtyard, or the household. Since the 

attribute
>"TA PROS THN QURAN" can qualify only "courtyard", why make it 

explicit?

Why indeed!!  This is priceless!  I can't get the smile off my face.

>Greek and many other languages (like my mother tongue, Portuguese) 

often
>leave out the subject when it is obvious from the meaning of the 

verb. Then,
>the  "house" is the subject of XWREIN (what else could contain 

people?).
>This subject is not expressed. Translate: Neither the  house could 

not contain them.
>Mark goes on: nor the courtyard (could contain them). MHDE = nor, 

unless my
>faulty knowledge of English is betraying me..
>TA PROS THN QURAN= The places in  front of the door= courtyard.
>The PROSDIORISMON (the qualifying expression) PROS THN QURAN is
>expressed, but the  OUSIASTIKA  "places" are not. OUSIASTIKA is
>what you English speakers call names, I think.

I think so too!!  :-)

>I don't know English grammar notation. Therefore, I use Greek 

notation.
>I hope that I have not been obscure in doing so. In any case, I am 

sure
>that if I was not clear enough, I will find somebody in the B-List 

who
>will be kind enough to improve my explanation.

You are sure improving our Greek!!!



 
George Blaisdell 
Roslyn, WA 


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