[B-Greek] 1 Peter 1:20

Ron Fay roncfay at hotmail.com
Mon Aug 28 22:00:59 EDT 2006



>Hi Michael,
>Those translations were indeed correct. The Greeks said MEN and DE with
>practically every second breath - they thought in terms of MEN and DE, but
>it is not often translated "on the one hand.. on the other hand" and is
>usually (properly) translated as "but", "yet" etc. That is, it should not 
>be
>translated "on the one hand.. on the other hand" but that helps non-Greek
>speakers understand it when they are learning Greek. It is taught to
>students as "on the one hand.. on the other hand" (although at the same 
>time
>they are warned not to translate it that way, rarely at any rate) just to
>give them the idea of the thinking, and to get them to look for the
>answering DE when they see a MEN, not so they will translate it into 
>English
>that way. Btw, a single word in Greek could well need to be translated by
>several words in English, and vice versa.
>Ann Nyland
>


In addition, MEN...DE is often used for lists of ideas or items, which I 
believe is a use later in I Peter (trying to recall from my teaching of it 
last year).

- Ron Fay

________________________________________________
Dr. Ron Fay
www.roncfay.com
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Deerfield, IL.
roncfay at hotmail.com





More information about the B-Greek mailing list