[B-Greek] Re: Sentence Particle H

moon at sogang.ac.kr moon at sogang.ac.kr
Sun Apr 10 08:58:57 EDT 2005





Thanks, Carl.


 


I consulted the references you cited. But still, I wonder if there


are some papers written on the particle H (= H)\ ), the marker of an 
alternative.


 


I wanted to investigate it, because I am trying to interpret 1 Cor 14:36.


The passage in which this verse occurs has been interpreted in two ways.


 


(1) View 1:  The verses 34-35 is the position of Paul, and 


the rhetorical  question of v 36 aims at confirming this position.


verse 36.


(2) View 2:  The  verses 34-35 is the position of the Corinthian 
or


 a quotation from what some of the Corinthians said, 


and the rhetorical question aims


at refuting the opinion in this quotation. 


 


Many things are involved in this debate. One crucial issue is how to 


take the "disjuntive particle" H in front of v. 36a.


 


View 1 considers H as a disjunctive particle, which expresses shock and 
overturns what immediately precedes ("
What
! Did the word of God originate 
with you men only?"). This view claims that 


that H + S can be used to state statement S contrary to  the 
previous statement.  In this case, statement S is conveyed by the 
rhetorical question in v 36a. So, the S, which is "the word of God did NOT 
originate with you men only", contradicts the position of the verses 34-35. 



 


View 2 claims that there is no such use of H in Greek. H here means


"or else" ( the same sense as EI DE MH, IF NOT).  Then, we have:


  


  If you do not agree with the position of verses 34-35, 


  then, did the wordl of God originate with you only?


 


Because the Corinthian could not accept the conclusion, they should


have agreed with the proposition of verses 34-35.


 


I find it very hard to understand  that H + S 
simpliy instroduces statement S contrary to the previous statement. 


 


But I though that there may be  another way to support View 1, by 
taking


H as "or rather, or precisely". This use of H is well attested. This 
H


does not introduce an exclusive alternative to a previous statement or


question, but paraphrases it.  


 


My hypothesis is:


 H introduces  either an exclusive 


alternative phrase or statement/question or a related or similar phrae or 
statement/question, which supplements the previous one (cf. BDAG, 
SMYTH).  This feature is quite visible when


H connects pharases, but there is no reason that H connects 
statements/questions in a different way than phrases. 


 


So, if we can take  v 36, as "Or rather ( or in other words ),


did the word of God originate with you only?", we can still take


the verses 34-35 as the position of the Corinthians, which Paul


refutes by the rhetorical question of vesre 36. 


 


 


However, there are many cases of Q;  H+ Q  occurs,


where Q = question. 


And there are many cases of  S;  H+ Q, where H + Q 
introduces  


a rhetorical question which results in the conformation of S.


 


So, I will use my search engine to find cases of


S; H+Q where the rhetorical question Q paraphrases


the assertion of S or its implication. 


 


But, I would like to hear whether I am on the right track.


 


Moon Jung


Sogang Univ,


Seoul, Korea


 


-----------------------


At 8:26 PM +0900 4/9/05, <moon at sogang.ac.kr> wrote: 
>Hi, 

>are there any comprehensive studies on sentence particle H? 
>I am 
interested in this study, because some exegetes argue 
>that H + 
rhetorical question can be used to discuss the ongoing 
>argument from 
another perspective. I always thought that H + 
>rhetorical question 
introduces an impossible alternative to the 
>present statement, in order 
to prove the validity of the present 
>statement. It is a kind of a "proof 
by contradiction". 
Moon, you are aware, I assume, that there are two 
very different particles, 
which, using our conventional transliteration with 
added accent markers, 
are "H)=" (circumflexed with smooth-breathing) and 
"H)\" (grave accent, 
smooth breathing); the former is used both as an 
affirmative and as an 
interrogative particle ("surely"), the latter as a 
disjunctive particle 
used to introduce rhetorical questions or offer an 
alternative question to 
one already posed. Perhaps you should first be sure 
that you have these 
distinguished. BDAG has a pretty clear accounting for 
the two, especially 
the various usages of "H)\", inasmuch as "H)=" is far 
less common in NT 
Greek. You might find the accounts in Smyth §§2856-2863 
helpful also. J.D. 
Denniston's half-century-old work, _The Greek Particles_ 
has a discussion 
of "H)=" of several pages, but I think it's probably the 
usage of "H)\" 
that you're most concerned with. 
-- 
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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