Mark 2:19

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Jun 22 18:00:51 EDT 1999


At 5:16 PM -0400 6/22/99, UpoXarin at aol.com wrote:
>I am slowly reading my way through Mark and I have hit a speed bump in verse
>nineteen:
>
>... hOSON XRONON EXOUSIN TON NUMPHION MET' AUTWN OU DUNANTAI NHSTEUEIN
>
>AS MUCH TIME AS THEY HAVE THE BRIDEGROOM WITH THEM, THEY ARE NOT ABLE TO FAST.
>
>I don't understand why hOSON XRONON is in the accusative.  It appears to be
>functioning adverbially, answering the question of how long.  A.T. Robertson
>suggests that there is some sort of attraction going on.  Any help would be
>appreciated.

The accusative is the appropriate case for extent of time, i.e. "how long".
What is "attracted" in this instance is the demonstrative TOSON CRONON: it
is attracted into the relative; more fully it would be hOSON CRONON ECOUSIN
TON NUMFION MET' AUTWN, TOSON CRONON OU DUNANTAI NHSTEUEIN. This is much
like, "I give you what I have," where "what" = "that which."


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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