Hair-splitting (was Tense of TETAGMENOI in Acts 13:48)

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Jul 6 14:44:21 EDT 1999


At 10:08 AM -0700 7/6/99, dixonps at juno.com wrote:
>On Mon, 5 Jul 1999 19:57:32 -0400 "Carl W. Conrad"
><cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu> writes:
>
>>I am NOT saying something about the time of the PARTICIPLE,
>>TETAGMENOI. I AM saying that the pluperfect and the imperfect both refer
>to time
>>prior to the present, that the present perfect and the present
>indicative both
>>refer to present time, the present indicative describing what is
>happening,
>>the present perfect describing a condition or state currently obtaining.
>
>All you are saying then, to use other terminology, is that you perceive
>the
>perfect TETAGMENOI as intensive, rather than extensive, with the stress
>being
>not on the completed past act (of God's choosing), but upon the existing
>present
>results, that is, that the hOSOI were in the resulting state of being
>chosen when
>they believed.  Right?

Precisely.

>>To return to Acts 13:48 AKOUONTA DE TA EQNH ECAIRON KAI EDOXAZON TON
>>LOGON TOU KURIOU KAI EPISTEUSAN hOSOI HSAN TETAGMENOI EIS ZWHN AIWNION.
>My
>>own diomatic version of this would be, "And as the Gentiles heard, they
>>went on to rejoice and to glorify the word of the Lord and those who
>were
>>destined for everlasting life came to believe." I'm translating HSAN
>>TETAGMENOI as "were destined"; if it were ETACQHSAN, I'd be more
>>inclined to translate it "had been destined." I think the aorist
>emphasizes
>>the completion of the act, whereas I think the pluperfect emphasizes the
>
>>status obtaining for those who believed.
>
>I like your translation very much.  The intensive force of the perfect is
>carried, but a possible ambiguity is avoided by rendering the aorist
>ingressively.

Yes; moreover, I think that this understanding of the way aorist and
pluperfect work in Koine (I can't really prove it, but I believe it) helps
explain the rarity of both the perfect and the pluperfect in Koine. The
aorist has effectively assumed their functions in narrative and they are
used, when they are used, more fundamentally to emphasize that existing
result.


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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