[B-Greek] Subjunctive or Indicative question

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Apr 14 12:49:49 EDT 2004


At 11:38 AM -0400 4/14/04, A. Philip Brown II wrote:
>Xairein,
>
>Bill Mounce uses the following question from Matt. 6:28 as an example of a
>deliberate subjunctive:
>
>KAI PERI ENDUMATOS TI MERIMNATE?
>
>I know that the 2nd pl Pres. Act. Subj. of -AW contract verbs is identical
>to the Pres. Act. Ind. morphologically, but I was wondering why MERIMNATE
>should be regarded as subjunctive.  None of the Greek morphology databases I
>have parse it as subjunctive.
>
>Is there something about the syntax/semantics of the question that argues
>for parsing it as subjunctive?

Not that I can see; it is not an indirect question but a direct what; I'd
understand it as an indicative: "And why are you anxious about dress?" Now
if PERI ENDUMATOS were rephrased as TI ENDUSHSQE, as it actually is phrased
in 6:25, ENDUSHSQE is indeed a subjunctive of indirect question; but I can
see no reason why MERIMNATE here should be supposed a subjunctive.
-- 

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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