[B-Greek] Jn. 8:40

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Nov 23 12:13:05 EST 2004


At 4:35 PM +0000 11/23/04, D Jongkind wrote:
><>Dear Ron,
>
>Another example:
>1 Cor 15:9
>EGW GAR EIMI O ELACISTOS TWN APOSTOLWN OS OUK EIMI IKANOS KALEISQAI
>APOSTOLOS
>
>I guess I would call it an instance of attraction.

No, attraction is the term used for a relative pronoun that takes the case
of its antecedent. In the present instance the verb of the clause is
accommodated to the antecedent ME of hOS. And it's not really right to call
the RELATIVE pronoun in this instance a "third-singular pronoun"; the
RELATIVE pronoun can agree with a pronoun of ANY number:

You might compare the construction of the opening of the Lord's Prayer (Mt
6:9):

	PATER hHMWN hO EN TOIS OURANOIS ...

Here the attributive phrase hO EN TOIS OURANOIS is equivalent to a relative
clause, as in the standard English, "who art in Heaven ..." Note the
"art"--the archaic second-singular verb; so in German "der Du in Himmel
bist ..."

The relative pronoun may fit with a first- or second-person pronoun, even
if it's most common to find it with third-person nouns and pronouns.


>What is the Greek construction called in John 8:40 when the relative
>pronoun hOS seems to be the subject of the verb I speak? It would seem
>that a third singular verb should be found, but we find a first person.
>Does anyone have additional examples of this?
-- 

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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