Distinguishing Genitive from Ablative

George Goolde goolde at mtnempire.net
Wed Feb 9 17:19:52 EST 2000


Christian wrote:


>Apologies in advance if this question is too simple. This is my first
>post, and while I had several years of greek in college, that was 9 years
>ago and I'm quite rusty. I'm currently working on rectifying this
>situation by working through my old grammars. If my questions are beneath
>the level of this list, please feel free to redirect me to a more
>appropriate forum.
>
>My specific question is this: How does one distinguish between ablative
>and genitive forms? I know that in some cases it's obvious based on the
>context. But in other's it seems like it's harder to tell. For instance:

There is absolutely no difference between ablative and genitive *forms.* 
What is different is the usage.  The root idea of genitive uses is 
description.  The root idea of ablative uses is separation.

Some scholars on this list would not divide these into two categories of 
uses but would prefer to make a list of the many uses of the 
genitive/ablative form.  I do see usefulness in having two categories, 
genitive and ablative, with their respective root meanings as I have stated 
above.

Whether you regard the two categories or not, the form is the same.

>hO DIDASKOLOS PEMPEI TOUS DOULOUS TOU OIKOU TW POTAMW   (hope I did that
>right!)
>
>It seems to me this could be taken several ways:
>1. The teacher sends the servants from the house to the river (abl)
>2. The teacher sends the servants of the house to the river (gen)
>
>In other words, if I specifically wanted to convey the idea that these
>were "household servants" being sent to the river, how would I do so?

Christian, there are not different grammatical ways to indicate the various 
kinds or uses of the genitive.  One of the things that makes interpretation 
both interesting and difficult is discovering (not determining!) what the 
author intended.  This is best done by understanding context.  The concept 
"household servants" means that your intended use would be what we call a 
descriptive genitive.  But that genitive would not look any different from 
any other genitive.  I, as a reader, would need to ask the question "What 
did Christian mean here?"

That is the basic question we ask as we interpret the Bible text.  And 
Greek scholars do not always come up with the same answer!

Hope this helps.  Your question is an important one that is most appropriate.

George


George A. Goolde
Professor, Bible and Theology
Southern California Bible College & Seminary
El Cajon, California

goolde at mtnempire.net



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