TIS and grammatical gender (Was Re: [B-Greek] 1 Timothy 5:8
Cirk Bejnar
eluchil404 at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 16 11:44:49 EST 2004
--- "Jeffrey B. Gibson" <jgibson000 at comcast.net>
wrote:
>
>
> dhoxworth at charter.net wrote:
>
> > ><Jeffrey>
> > >Have a look at PARQENOS and TEKNON and PAIDION
> and TELOS, not to mention QALASSA and EKKLHSIA and
> ALHQEIA
> >
> > <doug>
> > exactly. that's why i said that often they do
> agree, but not always. that's why it's not a hard
> and fast "rule" but there may be a pattern. it does
> not always appear to be completely random. but
> again, i wasn't trying to contradict what ann was
> saying, but just trying to interject with an
> explanation why that argument is often made (i.e.,
> because of a seeming pattern).
>
> "Seeming" pattern? What kind, and what quantity, of
> evidence do you need to be convinced that the
> pattern is more than apparent?
>
> Jeffrey Gibson
There is a real pattern. That's how the genders got
their names, after all. Otherwise they would just be,
noun categories 1, 2, and 3. The point is that there
are enough exceptions to make any deductions unsure
and that grammatical gender can indicate other things
besides biological gender. The feminine is associated
with both femine animates and abstrasts the masculine
with both male and unspecified gender. Gender isn't
random, on the whole, there are some weird exceptions,
but the fact that each one does double and triple duty
leaves any implications on a pretty thin basis.
Cirk R. Bejnar
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