Luke 4:16
Jerker Karlsson
jerker.karlsson at kdu.se
Sat Oct 26 16:48:54 EDT 2002
dconklin at tcq.net writes:
>hemera twn sabbatwn
>day (fem., sing.).....sabbbaths (neut,pl.)
>
>Doesn't the Greek require that noun modifiers agree in gender and number
>to
>its noun substantive?
Agrement in gender is only required as long as its possible. Sabbath is a
neutral noun and doesn't have a feminine form, thus it keeps it's gender.
This is by the way the case with all nouns then they function as
modifiers. Adjectives on the other hand often have forms to fit all three
genders, but not always.
Agrement in numbers is also only required as long as it's possible. Just
as in english some words are in form singular (butter, people) or plural
(binoculars), but in Luk. 4:16 this is not the issue. Sabbath is a noun
with both singular and plural form. The crux her, i believe, is that
sabbaths is regarded as a genitive of parts (sorry can't remember the
english label). The meaning of the phrase is consequently "in the day
which belongs to one of the sabbath days" = "in the sabbath day".
/Jerker Karlsson
Lund, Sweden
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list