Definite noun with anarthous attribute

Dale M. Wheeler dalemw at teleport.com
Mon Mar 6 11:48:51 EST 2000


Daniel L Christiansen wrote:

You must have finished grading that stack of papers I saw you wrestling 
with the other day...or did you just decide to take a break and have some 
fun... (-:


 >Those units which require closer inspection are as follows:
 >
 >
 >Matt 6:16  MH GINESQE hWS hOI hUPOKRITAI SKUQRWPOI AFANIZOUSIN GAR TA
 >PROSWPA....  Of course, it is not entirely clear whether SKUQRWPOI is
 >attributive to hUPOKRITAI, or whether these are two substantives in
 >apposition.  However, this is certainly not a predicative construction.

I think SKUQRWPOI is the predicate of GINESQE, and therefore anathrous; and 
hOI hUPOKRITAI is a separate clause, viz., "Don't become gloomy-looking, 
like the hypocrites [do], for they...."



 >
 >Matt 12:33  H POIHSATE TO DENDRON KALON...H POISATE TO DENDRON SAPRON.
 >I would prefer to treat the KALON and SAPRON as complement objects in a
 >double-accusative construction.  However, I could also see the rationale
 >for calling these predicative "make the tree *to become* healthy/rotten."
 >Matt 12:33  KAI TON KARPON AUTOU KALON... KAI TON KARPON AUTOU SAPRON.
 >The same considerations apply here, as in the other phrases. These
 >adjectives could be object complements, with the implied repetition of
 >the POISATE; or, they could be predicates,, as in "and the fruit *will
 >be" healthy/rotten."

These seem to me to clearly be Double Accusative/Object Complement, which 
is why the noun has the article and the adjective doesn't...ie., so that 
you'll know which is the first object (w/ article) and which is the 
second/complement (w/o article).


 >
 >Matt 14:30  BLEPWN DE TON ANEMON [ISCURON] EFOBHQH.  Assuming the
 >genuineness of the variant, I think that this is the most subjective of
 >all the occurances in Matthew.  We could read this as "When he saw the
 >strong wind, he became afraid" (attributive); or, "When he saw that the
 >wind *was* strong, he became afraid." (predicative).

I suppose we could read this with ISCURON as an adverbial accusative going 
with EFOBHQH, viz., "He was powerfully afraid."...seems pretty unlikely 
however...(-:  Looks like just another Dbl Acc/Obj Compl "...seeing the 
wind 'to be' stong, he was afraid."


There is one set of anarthrous words with articular nouns which intrigues 
me, since I've seen various grammars explain them in various ways and 
that's the anarthrous participle with an articular noun which is clearly 
not predicate; eg.:

  Mark 3:1  ECHRAMMENHN EXWN THN XEIRA



Now back to my OWN stack of papers....

XAIREIN...




***********************************************************************
Dale M. Wheeler, Ph.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages        Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street                               Portland, OR  97220
Voice: 503-251-6416    FAX:503-251-6478     E-Mail: dalemw at teleport.com
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