[B-Greek] EXESTAKENAI in Acts 8:11: transitive or intransitive?

Jim West jwest at highland.net
Wed Mar 9 17:44:46 EST 2005



Carl W Conrad wrote:

>A curious argument this, seeming akin to the notion that Biblical Koine is
>a unique and sacred language, different from the Greek spoken and written
>by secular writers at the same time as it is different from the Greek
>spoken and written before or after. My understanding of what Stephen
>Carlson reported yesterday was that it was Byzantine lexicographers that
>glossed the Biblical Greek EXESTAKENAI as transitive active, not that
>Byzantine writers were writing EXESTAKENAI and using it as transitive
>active. If Byzantine scholars could not understand the Biblical Greek text,
>it seems wondrous indeed that we moderns, who are NOT native speakers of
>Biblical Koine NOR of Byzantine Greek, should ever hope to understand
>Biblical Koine.
>  
>
My point, though, was that simply the virtue of being a Byzantine and a 
greek speaker does not necessarily make one an expert in Koine- any more 
than a modern person who speaks modern english tolerably well would be 
considered an expert in Shakespearean grammar.  It may be the case, but 
it may not.  Each grammarian stands or falls on their own merits, not 
the merits of their social location.  After all, Byzantines could make 
grammatical errors too, as well as misread and misinterpret.

Best,

Jim

-- 
Jim West

Biblical Studies Resources -  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest
Biblical Theology Weblog -  http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com





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