[B-Greek] Can an infinitive subsequent be a PPA?

kgraham0938 at comcast.net kgraham0938 at comcast.net
Mon Feb 28 11:51:32 EST 2005


Question, can what is defined by Wallace as a subsequent of time (pg 596)still be a PPA?? (p 520)

A friend and I are discussing Jer 1:5.

PRO TOU ME PLASAI SE EV KOILIA EPISTAMAI SE.

A subsequent of time demands that the action of the main verb comes before that of the infinitive.  I argued that since one action takes place before the infinitive, one cannot call this a genuine PPA construction and should translate this as a simply past based of the Hebrew.  Or as a perfective present.

I would translate it as the following.

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.  

Brenton's translation of Jer 1:5 reads like this...

5 Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth from the womb, I sanctified thee; I appointed thee a prophet the nations.
 

My friend would like to translate this as a PPA.

I have known you since before I formed you in the womb.

>From my understanding, and I could be wrong, according to Wallace the emphasis of the PPA should be on the present.  I replied that the word 'since' is not in the passage and does not need to be added to the passage, because one could simply translate EPISTAMAI as a perfective present.

I have known you before I formed you in the womb.  I further argued that if something is an infinitive subsequent then it cannot be a PPA.



--
Kelton Graham
KGRAHAM0938 at comcast.net



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