[B-Greek] How did the Greeks Read Greek?
David C. Hindley
dhindley at compuserve.com
Sun Aug 29 14:47:13 EDT 2004
Clayton Javurek asked:
>>Currently I am reading through the book of Hebrews in the NT with the help
of the Greek-English Interlinear. The Greek word order in the book of
Hebrews is very difficult. How did the Greeks in the first century AD read
Greek? By this I mean to ask "Did the Greeks look at each sentence like a
scattered puzzle and they first had to identify the parts and then fit them
together" or "Did the Greeks, somehow in moving from left to right, were
still able to use Greek word order somehow to read Greek"? I just find that
the Greek word order in the book of Hebrews appears so crazy that it would
seem so difficult even for a Greek native speaker to read the book of
Hebrews!<<
Interlinears can have their place, but I really doubt you can get any more
from them than the original Greek words for the words you find in your
favorite modern translation, UNLESS you have some understanding of Greek
grammar.
Personally I like to use an interlinear, but I had 2 years of Greek grammar
(a year each of NT and then Classical Greek). I never got beyond the low
intermediate stage and then found myself working for a living and never
found sufficient time to keep up with it. For someone like me, the
interlinear is a compromise that lets me quickly see the basic structure of
the sentence, and then I can reference the more advanced grammars to pick up
on nuances.
Greek is not like English. You have to learn how to "think outside of the
(English) box." Just keep plugging. Get some help learning basic grammar.
Keep reading passages in the interlinear version that you *think* you know
(in English, or whatever) and start thinking about what the passage, in
Greek, *could* mean. You'll guess wrong a lot at first, but look the matters
up in your grammar(s) and lexicons, and the more you do this the less of a
mystery it will become.
Don't be afraid to throw up your hands and give up for the day or week if
you get frustrated. When you turn back to it in a day or so you'll be amazed
how you will see the answers more clearly. There will definitely be a
learning curve, though. Psyche yourself up for that, and you will do just
fine ... <really>
Respectfully,
Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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