[B-Greek] Predicate as topic, word order Jc 5:17
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Tue Jun 28 17:08:37 EDT 2005
> Shalom Iver,
>
> Egrapsen:
> >So, you are also assuming SVO as the default word order.>
> Actually not. I assume VSO, based on removing pragmatic
> generation rules rather than statistics.
My apology for the typo. Of course, I meant to write VSO, and realized the
mistake after I had sent the mail.
> >> I would have to agree with Levinsohn that 'on the earth' is much
> >> less salient than 'three years'.
> >>...
>
> >Yes, in English, because "rain" is a very specific word in
> English. BRECW is
> nowhere that specific in Greek. ...
> Therefore, "on the earth" it is not nearly as predictable and redundant in
> Greek as it is in English. Maybe James wanted the reader to think
> of Gen 2:5
> where God caused it to "rain upon the earth"? After all, it is God who
> caused it NOT to "rain upon the earth" when Elijah prayed.>
>
> These things are weighed relatively. Look at the context. BREXEIN
> by itself naturally has a natural context and can be used alone,
> even adding fire in place of water. If a writer wanted to add 'on
> the earth' it is still highly predictable information. However,
> not raining for 3 years, that is hardly predictable and is what
> places the event outside of the normal course of events.
> You can read 'on the earth' as more prominent if you want to,
> even alluding to Gen 2:5 (which I don't see since this refers to
> Eliyahu), but this becomes too long stretch for me.
What is predictable also depends on what the original audience already knew,
or rather what the writer assumed that they knew. If the "three years and
six months" is assumed common knowledge about the Elijah story among the
audience, then it is predictable from the clues of Elijah and praying for no
rain. (What Longacre called script predictable.) I couldn't find the "six
months" in the OT story, so it must have been part of a well-known
extra-biblical tradition. 1 Kings 18:1 says in the RSV: "After many days the
word of the LORD came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, "Go, show
yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth." (Literally "on the
face of the earth" in both Hebrew and LXX.) Again we have the full phrase
"rain upon the earth". 1 Kings 17:7 says "there was no rain in the land."
(EPI THS GHS in LXX). Again, "in the land" is part of the expression used
(of course, land and earth is the same word in both Hebrew and Greek). My
point is that "upon the land/earth" is a natural part of the expression, and
that is why it immediately follows the verb BRECW in order to complete the
thought. I then assume that the time span is already well known by the
audience, and that is why it is placed last. The point of the story in James
is not the time span, but Elijah's prayer and its efficiency as is clear
from the preceding verse. My suggestion is that the presumed saliency of the
time phrase is based more on English and the assumptions of a modern
audience than Greek and the assumptions of the original audience.
I appreciate your insights,
Iver Larsen
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