[B-Greek] Comparison of EIS with PROS

Daniel Riaño danielrr at eresmas.net
Fri Jan 16 07:11:38 EST 2004


FWIW: While not answering your question about Ephesians 4:12, you 
might find interesting that in Lucas EIS and PROS have a quite 
separate distribution: PROS is almost always (91.5 % of the cases) 
used with animate nouns (typically a person) and not with names of 
locations; EIS, on the contrary, is used mainly for names of 
locations (45%) or inanimate, and in less then the 10% of the times, 
with animates.

This is similar, but not quite the same the distribution we find in 
classical times. For Thucydides (based on a sample of 20.000 words of 
the first 4 books) I cant find EIS with an animate noun, and PROS 
appears 49.15 % of the times  with animates and 10.17 % with 
locations.

Closer in time to NT times, Polybius  (again based on a sample of 
20.000 words of the first 4 books) presents this distribution: PROS 
is used 65.43 % with animates, 10.64 % with locations, and very often 
with different classes of not concrete entities (nomina actionis, 
abstract nouns, etc.); EIS is used mainly with names of locations 
(48.3 %) and marginally with animates (less than 10%).

Obviously, such distribution of the object reflect a different 
pattern in the semantics of the verbs: PROS usually with verbs of 
addressing and sensory operations, secondarilly with verbs of motion 
and giving, sending (in LUKE mainly ei=)pon, lale/w, a)poste/llw, 
e)/rcomai, le/gw, etc.), PROS with verbs of motion, (but also 
statives) In LUKE tipically: ei)se/rcomai, poreu/w, e)/rcomai, 
a)nabai/nw, u(postre/fw, ei)mi/, etc.)

It is rather clear that they are not synonymous. Sorry if I am 
repeating Robertson, which I don't have at hand now.

At 16:46 -0500 14/1/04, <dhoxworth at charter.net> wrote:
>i'm looking for information on the distinction between the 
>prepositions EIS and PROS. i understand that AT Robertson has a good 
>treatment of it in his "A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in 
>Light of Historical Research" on pages 591-596.
>
>could someone give me further information about this and perhaps 
>even quote the relevant section from his grammar (seeing that i 
>don't have it)? thanks!
>
>Doug Hoxworth
>Seminary Student
>Pasco, Washington

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daniel Riaño Rufilanchas
Madrid, España




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