[B-Greek] Subjunctive Aorist

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Apr 29 17:32:59 EDT 2003


At 4:49 PM -0400 4/29/03, Jonathan Robie wrote:
>At 03:10 PM 4/29/2003 -0500, gene baker wrote:
>>Although from our experience it would seem that this text refers to a
>>future event, I personally am uncomfortable with translators taking that
>>much liberty with the text.
>
>Hmmm....
>
>For me, the question boils down to this: Is the Subjunctive Aorist
>generally used for future reference? I am handicapped by the fact that
>Gramcord is not working on my computer right now and I have no books in
>front of me.
>
>I remember earlier discussion of the similarity in meaning *and* morphology
>between the future and the subjunctive aorist. My memory may be hazy. And
>I'm a list owner, not a Greek expert.
>
>Anyone able to shed light on this?

I think that the point here is that the fulfilment of this clause (or these
clauses (hINA KAMYHI, hINA hOMOLOGHSHTAI) lies in the future. How one
translates a purpose clause depends fundamentally upon that. We could say,
"gave him a name such that every knee WOULD bow, every tongue WOULD confess
...", but in fact the fulfilment is envisioned as something for the
ESCATON, isn't it. Furthermore, the aorist subjunctive is rather common
with MH for commands (Smyth, §1803) and for emphatic denial (Smyth, §1804).
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/


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