Lk 1:5 KAI GUNH AUTWi

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Aug 25 16:14:19 EDT 2002


I should have called attention to Dennis Hukel's response (Fri, 23 Aug 2002
07:55:09 -0700) to this matter and take the opportunity to do so now.

At 1:17 PM -0400 8/25/02, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>I hereby resubmit the fourth of the questions concerned with distinctive
>readings of Codex Bezae in the text of Luke's gospel.
>
>The text of Lk 1:5 reads: EGENETO ... hIEREUS TIS ONOMATI ZACARIAS EX
>EFHMERIAS ABIA, KAI GUNH AUTWI EK TWN QUGATERWN AARWN KAI TO ONOMA AUTHS
>ELISABET.
>
>Lk 1:5 KAI GUNH AUTWi is the reading both in D05 and in NA27/USB4)
>
>Why is a dative (AUTWi) used here rather than a genitive (AUTOU)? The
>dative of attribution also appears in Lk 8:3, 12:15; how is this different
>from a possessive genitive? In Lk 1:13 and 1:18 Elizabeth is called the
>wife of
>Zacharias with a genitive. This seems independent of the construction with
>the verb EINAI implicit, since the expression "belong to someone" is found
>also with the genitive (Lk 4:7; 12:20D05; 18:16). Does the dative convey
>some nuance that is distinct from the genitive in an expression such as
>these?
>--

Dennis responded: "According to the Syntax Grammars, the dative of
possession has a nuance of emphasizing the object (rather than the
possessor in the genitive), yet also emphasizes the possessor's personal
interest in the object. The dative of possession is also usually used with
an equative verb, which would go along with an implicit EINAI.

"The dative of possession is not rare, but not as common as the dative of
advantage. In Matt. 26, when Jesus gives a condition contrary to fact
(usually translated "it is better for that man if he had never been
born"), it makes much better sense to me to take AUTWi as a dative of
possession ("it would be that man's ideal if he had never been born"). This
totally turns the meaning of the text around from the traditional
interpretation of a (supposed) objective fact to a prophecy of Judas'
soon-to-be mental condition (which would suggest he would be dispairing of
life and may commit suicide, which he did). The particular problem I have
with the dative of advantage here is how it can be that all the good times
in Judas' life could be rendered of no
account if it were (objectively) preferable he never existed at all. What
do you think?"

-- 

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/



More information about the B-Greek mailing list