[B-Greek] Re: Predicate as Topic

Elizabeth Kline kline-dekoning at earthlink.net
Sun Jun 26 14:54:34 EDT 2005


On 6/25/05 11:40 AM, "Elizabeth Kline" <kline-dekoning at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Dik's first example (p.207) is very simple and the language should not prove
> difficult for readers of the Greek NT.
> 
> Herod. Hist. 1.114
> 
> EPAIZE EN THi KWMHi TAUTHi EN THi HSAN KAI hAI BOUKOLIAI [hAUTAI],
> EPAIZE DE MET' ALLWN hHLIKWN EN hODWi.
> 
> "He was playing in the village where these herdsmen's quarters were:
> there he was playing in the road with others of his age." trans.  LCL
> 
> Here we have a repetition of the verb EPAIZE which functions as topic in the
> second line. It ties the comment to the preceding idea "playing" by means of
> repeating the main verb.  Absolute repetition like we see here is not required
> for the predicate to function as topic.

The previous example is too simple and therefore somewhat misleading. Here
is another short quote from Herodotus which uses easy vocabulary found in
the LXX lexicon:

 Herod. Hist. 1.43.2

ENQA DH hO XEINOS, hOUTOS DH hO KAQARQEIS TON FONON, KALEOMENOS DE ADRHSTOS,
AKONTIZWN TON hUN TOU MEN hAMARTANEI, TUGCANEI DE TOU KROISOU PAIDOS.

To save some time: ADRHSTOS and KROISOU are proper names, AKONTIZWN means
hurl a spear, TON hUN is a wild boar or swine. The LCL translation quoted
from Helma Dik is:

"Then the guest called Adrastus, the man who had been cleansed of the deed
of blood, missed the boar with his spear and hit the son of Croesus."

In the last clause TUGCANEI DE TOU KROISOU PAIDOS, "and hit the son of
Croesus" the predicate TUGCANEI is topical. It links what follows to the
state of affairs implied by TON FONON and  AKONTIZWN TON hUN TOU MEN
hAMARTANEI. This example illustrates that topical reference to the preceding
context does not require repetition of a word or even a synonym. It also
illustrates a predicate TUGCANEI functioning as a topic with a
contextualizing function.

Elizabeth Kline 





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