[B-Greek] B-Greek] Third-person commands
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Mon Nov 21 09:55:03 EST 2005
I am forwarding this message BACK to the list WITH a subject-header
so that the content will go into the thread on third-person commands
and not get lost in the archives. I think it is a significant
comment. I have tried to contribute something to the discussion
myself by calling attention to other periphrastic modes of
accomplishing what I think the third-person commands accomplish,
since I DO NOT think the third-person imperative forms are so easily
reduced to admonitions to second-persons to perform the desired actions.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: William Warren <wfwarren at aol.com>
> Date: November 20, 2005 2:16:59 PM EST
> To: B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] (no subject)
>
> Yancy, this is exactly the case for many 3rd person imperatives as I
> understand them in the Greek language. The 3rd person command is a
> means of honoring the social considerations of the situation with
> politeness and indirect speech/commands. We would often classify
> such matters as "requests" in English since that is our way of
> describing this type of interaction. But the difference between a
> social request and a command is yet another discussion of semantics,
> linguistics, cultural norms, and social relationships that likely
> should take place in a different forum.
>
> paz,
>
> Bill Warren
> Director of the Center for New Testament Textual Studies
> Landrum P. Leavell, II, Professor of New Testament and Greek
> New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
>
> On Nov 16, 2005, at 11:13 PM, Yancy Smith wrote:
>
>> If you count all these up, it seems that the 3rd person command form
>> is more often used as a form of command for 2nd persons, albeit
>> polite or indirect, rather than for a true 3rd person command.
>
> ---
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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