Rom 8:26 -- article
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Sep 7 19:10:27 EDT 2002
At 10:39 PM +0300 9/7/02, Iver Larsen wrote:
>>
>> Richard Ghilardi had written:
>>
>> Rom 8:26 -- ...TO GAR TI PROSEUXWMEQA KAQO DEI OUK OIDAMEN...
>>
>> The function of TO, of course, is to substantivize the clause following
>> it which then becomes the direct object of OIDAMEN. This much is clear.
>> But I have never seen the article used to substantivize the subordinate
>> clause of (not "in" which is something else altogether) O.O. Paul could
>> have just as well omitted TO, right? If there's a difference in nuance, I
>> don't see it.
>>
>> Consider the following:
>>
>> 1) OUK OIDA hO TI EIPW.
>> 2) OUK OIDA TO hO TI EIPW.
>>
>> Don't these mean the same thing, "I don't know what to say"? Is 2 really
>> possible?
><snip>
>
>The default position of the object or content clause with O.O. is following
>it as in
>Mt 26:70 OUK OIDA TI LEGEIS
>There is no relative pronoun, since the indefinite pronoun is sufficient: I
>don't know what(ever) you are saying.
>If there is strong emphasis on the content clause, it may be moved forward
>as in
>1 Cor 14:16 TI LEGEIS OUK OIDEN -what(ever) you are saying, he doesn't
>know/understand.
I think I would prefer to understand TI in these constructions as the
interrogative pronoun rather than as an indefinite pronoun. It's true that
older Classical Greek used hO TI, the relative interrogative, more commonly
than the straightforward interrogative pronoun in indirect questions, but
the interrogative pronoun was always an option and I think that's what we
have here.
>A relative is used when it needs to refer back to something known or already
>mentioned, for instance:
>Jn 4:32 EGW BRWSIN ECW FAGEIN hHN hUMEIS OUK OIDATE
>In this case, the content for the knowing often precedes O.O. and there is
>no indefinite pronoun.
>
>For Rom 8:26 I guess Paul could have written
>TI GAR PROSEUXWMEQA KAQO DEI OUK OIDAMEN "For we don't know what(ever) we
>might pray as is needed" The TO may serve to emphasize the content, the
>actual words, something like:
>"For we don't know what(ever) things we might pray for as is needed."
>
>Iver Larsen
>
>
>---
>B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
>You are currently subscribed to b-greek as: [cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu]
>To unsubscribe, forward this message to
>$subst('Email.Unsub')
>To subscribe, send a message to subscribe-b-greek at franklin.oit.unc.edu
--
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