[B-Greek] Ambiguous punctuation.
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Dec 6 13:50:13 EST 2006
Oun, if you have a copy of NA27 or UBS4, you can see who prefers
which punctuation in any particular instance. We've discussed some
of them at length (some of them more than once, e.g. Lk 23:43) and
this is pretty clearly a matter of judgment on which, in some cases,
there will be different opinions. Rather than inviting us to discuss
texts that you say are controversial, it might make more sense for
you to propose texts for discussion one at a time and tell us why you
think one punctuation should be preferred (for GRAMMATICAL reasons,
of course!). My guess is that you will soon have responses in
agreement or disagreement, hopefully offering ALTERNATIVE
punctuations but still offering GRAMMATICAL reasons for the
alternative).
On Dec 6, 2006, at 1:13 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:
> A wrong comma can change the meaning of a sentence completely. Since
> the original Gk did not have punctuation as we know, there are several
> texts which give rise to controversy.
>
> Lk 23:43
> KAI EIPEN AUTW AMHN SOI LEGW SMERON MET EMOU ESH EN TW PARADEISW
> [Three options: no comma, a comma before, or after SMERON]
> [Unfortunately, in my Korean syntax, there is no way to leave it
> ambiguous. One has to choose placement of the word 'today' either
> close to 'say' or 'will be']
>
> Mk 16:9
> ANASTAS DE PRWI PRWTH SABBATOU EFANH PRWTON MARIA ~
> [It seems awkward to put a comma into this Gk text, but in English, a
> comma may be placed after 'Now having risen,' so that 'early in the
> first day of the week describes when the women went to the tomb (as in
> NET, HCSB), not the time of the resurrection (as in KJV, NASB).]
>
> Mt 28:1 OYE DE SABBATWN
> TH EPIFWSKOUSH EIS MIAN SABBATWN
> HLQEN MARIAM hH MAGDALHNH KAI hH ALLH MARIA QEWRHSAI TON TAFON
>
> [Placing a comma after this phrase OYE DE SABBATWN some put this
> (rather than at the start of 28:1 but) at the end of the preceding
> verse 27:66
> hOI DE POREUQENTES HSFALISANTO TON TAFON SFRAGISANSTES TON LIQON META
> THS TOUSTWDIAS]
>
> Arguments for and against a particular choice seem to be of exegetical
> nature. Is there anything to say yes or no for the different choices
> based on the Gk grammar and usage?
>
> Oun Kwon
> ---
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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