[B-Greek] John 3:19

Yancy Smith Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
Thu Dec 1 12:09:04 EST 2005


Sorry, folks, this is a resend with subject marked.

\>  Having chosen to reject a case of constructio ad sensum for the
 > singular EIMI in John 3:19, I translate: ": and men have loved more
 > darkness than light, for it was their evil works."
This is not really a case of "constructio ad sensum," since in other
languages (Georgian, for example) as well as Greek, neuter plural
substantives regularly are the subject of singular verbs. It would
sound very strange for "TA ERGA" to be paired with HN.

 > Is it possible that the accusative "darkness" becomes the singular
 > noun in the added clause at the end, to be understood that "the
 > darkness was their evil works?"
In this case the presence of the article tips the reader off as to
which noun is the subject TA ERGA and which is the predicate
nominative: PONHRA. "TO SKOTOS," however cannot function as the
subject of HN, because HN begins a new clause (marked with GAR) which
the editors have further indicated with the raised dot (semi colon).
If TO SKOTOS were in fact the subject of HN it would have been marked
as such with TO DE, as a continuer of the previous subject. Your
translation just wouldn't come into play. That the subject should be
placed at the end of the sentence, in this case in the order V-Conj-
PN-S, probably because the point of departure for the sentence is
GAR, which, however, cannot go first. The assumption of the question
above centers, perhaps, on the level of discontinuity (or continuity)
of this clause with what goes before. However, in Greek sentences the
best that can be said about verb initial sentences is that they do
not mark discontinuity with the context.

Yancy Smith
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
Brite Divinity School
Texas Christian University

Yancy Smith
Y.W.Smith at tcu.edu
Brite Divinity School
Texas Christian University






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