[B-Greek] Matt 5:3 ff
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Thu Dec 4 06:44:39 EST 2003
At 12:07 AM -0500 12/4/03, KENBFRAZIER at aol.com wrote:
>Upon reading the beatitudes in the GNT for the first time, I noticed that the
>first clause of each beatitude (such as MAKARIOI hOI PTWCOI TW PNEUMATI;....)
>does not have verb.
>
>What is the significance of this, if any?
There isn't any significance, really. It is standard Greek idiom to omit
forms of the verbal copula ("to be," etc.) when a subject is simply equated
with a predicate word. For instance, an old Greek proverb is CALEPA TA KALA
("Beautiful/noble things are hard"), where the subject TA KALA is linked to
the predicate adjective CALEPA; or there's the dictum of Callimachus about
long poems, MEGA BIBLION MEGA KAKON, "a big/long scroll is a great woe." In
both those expressions the linking ESTIN is "elliptical"--omitted because
understood as applicable.
>Thank you for your patience with beginners.
We were all of us once absolute beginners; sometimes I think that the
"advanced" are little more than advanced beginners.
--
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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