Didache

Keith Thompson KAT at kneptune.demon.co.uk
Sat Nov 3 08:51:20 EST 2001


Hi!
  I'm translating the Didache at the moment and I'm having a few 
problems. This is partly because there are some errors in the text, is 
there anywhere online that has a good copy? But mostly the problems I 
have are with the grammar or the meanings of words. I've only translated 
the 'hH hODOS THS ZWHS' part so far, and I've got quite a few questions, 
but I won't ask them all at once.
  At the end of 1:4 it says EAN LABHi TIS APO SOU TO SOON, MH APAITEI, 
OUDE GAR DUNASAI. (I assume SOON = SON) The problem I have is with OUDE 
GAR DUNASAI. I'm not very experienced with MI conjugation verbs, would 
the aorist middle imperative of DUNAMAI be DUNASAI? All I know is 
sometimes MI conjugation verbs follow the W conjugation in the aorist 
tense, meaning 'for neither be powerful/able'. But the GAR seems to 
imply a statement is being made, 'for neither are you able', but neither 
of these translations make much sense to me. What exactly does OUDE GAR 
DUNASAI mean here?
  And in 2:2 it says OU FONEUSEIS TEKNON EN FQORAi OUDE GENNHQEN 
APOKTENEIS. I'm not sure what EN FQORAi means, I would translate it 
literally as 'You will not slay a child in corruption'. Whose is the 
FQORA and what exactly does it mean? I would imagine it means 'do not 
murder a child who was born deformed', is this the right idea?
  I've got a few other questions as well, I hope someone will kindly help 
me out with them. I've found the people here to be very helpful, thanks 
in advance for any help I receive.
EN CRISTWi,
Keith Thompson (Manchester, UK)
Email: keitht at kneptune.demon.co.uk
Mobile email: koff at t-motion.co.uk

-- 
Keith Thompson



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