[B-Greek] Mark 1:6 and 1:4
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed May 14 06:17:25 EDT 2003
At 10:06 PM -0400 5/13/03, Norman Goos wrote:
>1.) There seems to be a clear periphrastic construction in Mark 1:6 with
>EIMI coupled to ENDEDUMENOS and ESQIWN, each part having a different
>translation or aspectal feel, "was wearing" and "continually eating"
>respectively. 2.) Allowing the textual tradition without the hO before
>BAPTIZWN, in 1:4 EGENETO is in the same phrase with two participles. Can
>this be seen as periphrastic as well since GINOMAI is a stative verb? If
>so, how would you show the difference between the use of the aorist depoent
>participle and the present participle in translation?
No, the two constructions are not really the same.
In 1:6 KAI HN hO IWANNHS ENDEDUMENOS TRICAS KAMHLOU KAI ZWNHN DERMATINHN
PERI THN OSFUN AUTOU KAI ESQIWN AKRIDAS KAI MELI AGRION, we have two real
periphrastic constructions with HN as a shared auxiliary: HN ENDEDUMENOS is
a periphrastic pluperfect middle while HN ESQIWN is a periphrastic
imperfect. But in fact the force of both verbs is imperfect: "he was
wearing" ("he had dressed himself in ...") and "he was eating" = his
characteristic garb was, his characteristic diet was ...
In 1:4 EGENETO IWANNHS BAPTIZWN EN THi ERHMWi KAI KHRUSSWN BAPTISMA
METANOIAS EIS AFESIN hAMARTIWN. Here I think we ought to understand EGENETO
EN THi ERHMWI as the essential predicate for IWANNHS ("John appeared in the
wilderness") and that we should understand BAPTIZWN and KHRUSSWN as
circumstantial participles: what he was doing when he appeared: baptizing
and proclaiming.
While it is sometimes said that GINOMAI functions in the aorist for EIMI,
that is true only in the sense that EGENOMHN may indicate temporal coming
into being. We can't really equate the functions of the two verbs wholly.
--
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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