[B-Greek] D. B. Wallace on neuter plural subject with plural verb

Albert Pietersma albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Sun Jan 4 19:46:55 EST 2004


On Jan 4, 2004, at 5:51 PM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>
> I don't know whether there's really any need to add a note to what 
> George
> has said; it seems to me it would be simplest to say that in the GNT 
> neuter
> plural subjects quite commonly take a singular verb, as they regularly 
> did
> in classical Attic, but that the more rigid rule of classical Attic is 
> not
> so regularly observed in the Hellenistic Koine. I'd be leery of 
> attempting
> to establish consistent rules of when and why plural verbs may be used 
> with
> neuter plural subjects in Koine.
In an article I wrote many years ago I argued (and demonstrated I 
think) that in the Greek Psalter sg versus pl verb with a neuter plural 
noun fluctuates with the number of the Hebrew verb. E.g. since Hebrew 
Z)N (sheep) is a collective it takes a sg verb. Since Z)N is translated 
by PROBATA the later will, as a result, also govern a sg verb.  I have 
often noted the same sort of correlation in other books of the LXX but 
have never made a study of it.
If anyone is interested the article is "The Greek Psalter: A Question 
of Methodology and Syntax," VT XXVI (1976) pp. 60-69.
Given such usage in the LXX it would seem likely that the NT reflects 
more slippage of the Classical rule than Koine in general.
Al

 



> -- 
>
> 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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—
Albert Pietersma
Professor of Septuagint and Hellenistic Greek
Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto
Home: 21 Cross Street,
Weston ON Canada M9N 2B8
Email: albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Homepage: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm




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