[B-Greek] PLHRHS
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Apr 30 10:25:34 EDT 2004
At 6:58 AM -0700 4/30/04, Mitch Larramore wrote:
>John 1:14 KAI hO
>> >> LOGOS SARX EGENETO KAI ESKHNWSEN EN hHMIN, KAI
>> EQEASAMEQA THN DOXAN AUTOU,
>> >> DOXAN hWS MONOGENOUS PARA PATROS, PLHRHS CARITOS
>> KAI ALHQEIAS.
>
><snip>
>
>Iver asked:
>>Could PLHRHS in John 1:14 possibly be an accusative
>(feminine), and
>>therefore relate to DOXAN?
>
>Dr. Conrad replied:
>Hardly! Even if we should understand PLHRHS as a
>2-termination
>adjective
>(PLHRHS mf/PLHRES n), it would have to be PLHRH in the
>acc. sg. fem. As
>noted above, the only way to understand it as
>construing with DOXAN is
>as
>an INDECLINABALE adjective. And perhaps that's what it
>is, as the
>evidence
>offered in BDAG seems to indicate, but I must say, it
>surely seems
>"passing
>strange" to me--very idiomatic, perhaps like American
>English
>colloquial
>idioms, "the whole nine yards" or "lock, stock, and
>barrel."
>
>I note:
>What do we make then of Robertson:
>
>Full (PLHRHS). Probably indeclinable accusative
>adjective agreeing with DOXAN (or genitive with
>MONOGENOUS) of which we have papyri examples
>(Robertson, Grammar, p. 275).
>
>Does this note not say that there ARE papyri examples
>of this adjectival usage of PLHRHS modifying a noun
>such as DOXAN (which I assume Robertson means that
>there are papyri examples of PLHRHS modifying an
>accusative noun)?
Mitch, I thought I'd made myself clear, but evidently I didn't. PLHRHS in
John 1:14 and Acts 6:5 may be construed with an accusative m. or f. noun
ONLY if we understand PLHRHS as indeclinable, NOT as a regular
2-termination adjective. That is to say, if the adjective is understood by
the user as indeclinable, he/she could write PLHRHS ONOMATA and it would
mean "full names." "Indeclinable" means precisely that it has no distinct
case/number/gender forms.
--
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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