[B-Greek] Off-topic Greek translation
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Sep 9 08:00:04 EDT 2003
At 12:23 AM -0700 9/9/03, Kenneth Litwak wrote:
> Hi. I'm working on some texts relevant to a paper
>I'm writing on Luke 1:1. I'd appreciate a
>verification of my translation of something that
>differs with the only printed transalition I've seen
>of it so far considerably.
>
>(INA DIA THS KATOCHS TAUTHS TO THS SUNOCHS SCHMA
>PLHROFORHQH
>
>"In order that through this inspiration, the form of
>what is held together/form of the affliction may be
>copleted/fufilled."
>
>Deissmann renders this as "in order that the SUNOCH
>may fulfil itself [come to fulfilmnet] in this way."
>It's not apparent to me how Deissmann reached such a
>translation. SUNOCHS does not look like the subject
>of the sentence to me, which Deissmann's translation
>makes it. Thanks for any insights. Since it's not
>about biblical Greek, I would appreciate responses
>off-list. Thanks.
The FAQ describes the scope of BG discussion as including first and
forement, "The Greek language of the Bible and related texts such as the
Greek
OT(Septuagint/LXX), Koiné Greek texts illustrative of the practice of
speakers and writers of Greek in the NT era, Patristic Greek texts, etc."
For that reason, I think discussion of this passage on-list is appropriate.
The subject of the hINA clause (assuming it is cited in full) is TO THS
SUNOCHS SCHMA, the verb is PLHROFORHQHi, and DIA THS KATOCHS TAUTHS is an
adverbial phrase qualifying the verb PLHROFORHQHi. That much is, I think,
clear and beyond dispute. I would want to know, before going further,
however, whether the context of the snippet cited offers any clear
indications of what is being referred to be SUNOCH and KATOCH; what may be
intended by them without any clearer context is difficult to decide: SUNOCH
must mean some kind of "holding together" and KATOCH must mean some kind of
"holding down" or "holding fast." But these are inferences from
etymological analysis of components, and we all know that such inferences
are of questionable value when determining the sense in any particular
context of any particular era. L&S offer a fairly broad range of sense for
both words.
My guess would be, Ken, that what really interests you here is how the verb
PLHROFOREW is being used; without any further clues regarding the meanings
of the words in context, my guess would be that the sense of PLHROFORHQHi
here is "be actualized" or "come to realization." I think that the verb
PLHROFORHQHi here is more likely intransitive and authentically passive in
sense.
--
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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