TIS : the indefinite person in masc sing

Roe d.roe at t-online.de
Tue Jun 20 18:56:55 EDT 2000


Thanks Carl, and others, for your help.


> For what it's worth, Philippians 2:1 is interesting...

Yes, and, having not seen that before, I'm comforted to hear you say the
construction appeared strange before stumbling across it alone... 

I was about to send this to the list when I noticed that I was
responding to a mail sent directly to me. I'll send it anyway here,
though it doesn't specifically address your post. Someone wrote to me:

> Although ADELFOS would refer to a male, the plural ADELFOI can 
> refer to males and females. 


But what about the indefinite singular...? What if one wants to say "If
any 'brother'...", meaning any of 'the brethren' -- brother or sister? 
Would one have to say "EI TIS ADELFOS hH ADELFH..."?  or could one
simply say "EI TIS ADELFOS..."?

Looking (from a novice's perspective) at passages like the following
leads me to think the latter masculine-only rendition might work...


1 Cor 3:18 ... EI TIS DOKEI SOFOS EINAI...

1 Cor 14:37 EI TIS DOKEI PROFHTHS EINAI...

Jams 1:23 hOTI EI TIS AKROATHS LOGOU ESTIN... 

James 1:26 EI TIS DOKEI QRHSKOS EINAI...


These cases have TIS referred to with a masculine adjective or noun.
Yet, they don't seem to be masculine-specific.
 
I think I failed to ask what I really question:  How (or with what
gender) does one express the singular indefinite person? It *seems* to
me to be with the masculine...

Thanks again,

David

D.W. Roe
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany



More information about the B-Greek mailing list