[B-Greek] John 15:9 - Use of Dative
Richard Ghilardi
qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
Fri Jun 10 00:26:59 EDT 2005
Hi Folks,
Carl Conrad wrote:
>I don't think there's a great deal of difference in MEANING between
>EN THi AGAPHi MOU
>and EN THi AGAPHi THi EMHi but I personally think that THi EMHi is
>more emphatic than
>would a simple genitive MOU. But it could as well have been EN THi
>EMHi AGAPHi -- and I think
>that would have been the simpler and closer equivalent of EN THi
>AGAPHi MOU.
This is my feeling too. BUT...
One of the textbooks from which I learned Greek, Hansen and Quinn's
"Greek: An Intensive Course", writes:
<< When the article is repeated and the words in the attributive position
follow it, greater emphasis is placed on the NOUN [caps are mine], and
the words in the attributive position seem to come as an afterthought. >>
They provide the following phrases:
hOI EN THi CWRAi ADELFOI
hOI ADELFOI hOI EN THi CWRAi
and write:
<< To translate the last example given above as "the brothers, [I mean]
the ones in the country," would be to exaggerate the effect, but it gives
some idea of the difference between the two. >>
Now, I realize that they are not specifically discussing the pronominal
adjective, but the same principle ought apply to it. I also understand
that H & Q are writing of classical Attic Greek and not the KOINH. But
surely this is not one of those features which distinguishes the two, is
it?
Or perhaps some of the linguistic ideas of which Mr. Buth has recently
been writing can be brought in here, such as Topicalization?, to
explicate the difference in phrasing.
At any rate, my question is: Is the pronominal adjective in the phrase EN
THi AGAPHi THi EMHi really emphatic or is it quite de-emphatic, an
"afterthought" as H & Q say?
Yours in His grace,
Richard Ghilardi - qodeshlayhvh at juno.com
New Haven, Connecticut USA
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