Sentences in Greek

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Aug 7 19:59:11 EDT 2002


At 11:57 AM -0400 8/7/02, Eric S. Weiss wrote:
>> But ... I cannot believe that the author really meant 1:3-14 to be one
>> continuous thoughtflow, even if a "literal" translation would make it a
>> continuous and convoluted series of subordinate clauses (hypotactic
>> construction, I believe it's called, vs. paratactic) with no stopping
>> except to take a breath.
>
>E.g., N-A 26 takes the EN hWi clauses at 1:7, 1:11, and 1:13 as new
>sentences. In fact, they Capitalize the EN, which makes these verses
>almost like the start of a new paragraph. Can you demonstrate that EN hWi
>should NOT be read as the beginning of a new thought/sentence, even though
>it may not be "usual" Greek to start a sentence/paragraph with EN + a
>relative pronoun?

I think that we might in a modern language be inclined to start new
sentences at these points; nevertheless, I would personally think rather
that the whole of 1:3-14 constitutes what ancients called a PERIODOS. On
the other hand, I have repeatedly expressed my own bewilderment at the
articulation of this passage; I think I have stated my opinion in this
forum before that it does not so much appear to me to be a discursive
sentence but rather a liturgical string of phrases linked together
associatively in the way I have often heard phrases and clauses linked
together in a lengthy, rambling sort of oral prayer in what is almost a
"stream of consciousness" sequence.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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