[B-Greek] Caragounis book
Dr. Don Wilkins
drdwilkins at sbcglobal.net
Thu Nov 25 00:42:57 EST 2004
I had that in mind, but I think NA is more flexible, with some
non-purpose equivalents to "to" that would be incompatible with hINA. I
probably need someone fluent in modern Greek to confirm, clarify, or
deny that. But I would emphasize that this is just one example of the
general tendency for the language (or most languages) to lose complexity
and precision over time (that is, after a "golden" age). It's an
understandably touchy subject, because it would seem inappropriate to
say that the less grammatically complex is inferior to the more complex.
It would be like saying that modern English is inferior to older English
by virtue of such things as the loss of distinction between the singular
and plural "you".
Don Wilkins
On Wednesday, November 24, 2004, at 07:23 PM, Eric Weiss wrote:
>> Now my understanding is that NA has come over into
>> modern Greek from hINA, and NA seems to be diluted
>> down to the equivalent of the English "to".
>
> Doesn't hINA + verb sometimes act like the "to" part
> of an infinitive, esp. in John's Gospel? I.e., rather
> than translate, e.g., HLQEN, hINA EISELQHi EIS THN
> SUNAGWGHN as "he left, in order that he might enter
> the synagogue," one should translate it as simply "he
> left to enter the synagogue." Still a "purpose," but
> better translated by the English infinitive. Is that
> what you mean by being the equivalent of the English
> "to"?
>
>
> =====
> Eric S. Weiss
>
>
>
>
>
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