[B-Greek] Phil. 1:13

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu May 13 15:08:09 EDT 2004


> >> TOUS DESMOUS MOU is the subject of GENESQAI and FANEROUS is a predicate
> >> adjective with EN CRISTWi as a modifier of FANEROUS GENESQAI;
> >
> >One small comment.
> >I would construe EN CRISTWi with TOUS DESMOUS MOU for semantic
> reasons (my
> >chains in Christ). The "chains" is a metonym for the event of
> being kept in
> >prison, and often the word is best translated as imprisonment or being
> >(kept) in prison. CRISTWi is a metonym for the event of
> preaching the gospel of Christ.
> >
> >NET says: "I am in prison for the sake of Christ."
> >
> >The guards/soldiers and everyone else around are aware that he
> is in prison
> >not as a criminal but for his preaching of the gospel of Christ.
>
> But doesn't this suggest that EN CRISTWi is NOT simply "attributive" (like
> MOU) to TOUS DESMOUS? that somehow EN CRISTWi belongs to the predicate
> FANEROUS GENESQAI, perhaps as an implicit "predicative" phrase? That is to
> say, there seems to be implicit in FANEROUS EN CRISTWi GENESQAI something
> like hWS ONTAS or hWS GENOMENOUS: "so that to the whole praetorium and to
> everyone else it has become clear that my imprisonment is/has come about
> through Christ/because of Christ. It really seems to me that the
> formulation here is a bit compressed.

Yes, I agree. First, it is not simply attributive in the sense of being a
constituent of the NP like MOU is. Secondly, one can certainly assume an
implied predicate that would serve to connect the noun DESMOUS with the
prepositional phrase EN CRISTWi. You have suggested "has come about" to
connect "my imprisonment" with "because of Christ" and I would agree with
that. However, I don't see EN CRISTWi as belonging to the predicate FANEROUS
GENESQAI. I would rather see TOUS DESMOUS MOU EN CRISTWi as the subject for
FANEROUS GENESQAI.

Let me take another example:
Rom 16:8: ASPASASQE AMPLIATON TON AGAPHTON MOU EN KURIWi
and compare with
Rom 16:10 ASPASASQE TOUS EK TWN NARKISSOU TOUS ONTAS EN KURIWi

I don't see the greeting to be "in (the) Lord", but rather that EN KURIWi
qualifies TON AGAPHTON MOU.

When a prepositional phrase is attached to a noun, we may assume an implicit
verb/predicate, often in the form of "to be". "The woman in the window" is
short for "The women who is/was standing/sitting in the window." In
descriptive linguistics the relative clause "who was standing in the window"
is said to be in an attributive relationship to the head noun as a
constituent which happens to be a rankshifted clause.
The semantic function of prepositions in this kind of constructions is
similar to the function of the genitive. As the genitive joins two nouns
together with the context specifying the relationships, a preposition can
join two nouns together with the context specifying the relationship.

Iver Larsen




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