[B-Greek] EAN KAI in Gal. 6:1

A. Dirkzwager dirkzwager at pandora.be
Sun Mar 6 11:52:09 EST 2005


Jesse,

At first about the combination EAN KAI.
J.D. Denniston, The Greek Particles, Oxford 1959, p. 303, writes:
EI KAI often means 'if indeed', 'if really' ('though I should be surprised
if it were so'). ... This force is often combined with 'even if' ('even if
indeed') and classification of examples is difficult. .....
English is, in this matter, more finely shaded than Greek. 'I shall keep dry
if it does rain': 'I shall keep dry even if it rains' : 'I shall keep dry
even if it does rain' : all three represented in Greek by EAN KAI hUSHi.
End of the quotation.

Then about AN in combination with a subjunctive.
There are two possibilities:
- a futuralis (pseudo-future)
- a generalis (describing what is generally done)
The choice between the possibilities is a question of appreciation.
Although Paul in your text clearly is writing about events to happen in the
future, I think that the meaning has more of a generalis: "every time
so-and-so will happen, you should ....".

Arie

Dr. A. Dirkzwager
Hoeselt, Belgium
e-mail dirkzwager at pandora.be

----- Oorspronkelijk bericht -----
Van: "Jesse Barnum" <jobarnum at gmail.com>
Aan: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Verzonden: zondag 6 maart 2005 17:20
Onderwerp: [B-Greek] EAN KAI in Gal. 6:1


>      This seems to be the only occurance of this construction in the
> New Testament.  Generally speaking, KAI is left untranslated (KJV,
> NIV, ESV, RSV), but in the NASB it is translated "even if."  Should
> KAI be understood as an Ascensive conjunction (or intensive), placing
> an emphasis on PROLHMFTH?  Or could EAN KAI carry a concessive force?
>      The presence of EAN with the aorist passive conjunction makes
> this a third class condition. But, is the idea here "future more
> probable (as Longenecker states), or is it more the idea of "this
> situation is unlikely, but still possible?"  Does the presence of KAI
> give it the semantic force of the latter statement?
>
>
> Jesse Barnum
> Boise, Idaho
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