[B-Greek] ACTS 18:18 TOIS ADELFOIS

CTCE jfs at jfsanders.com
Tue Dec 26 07:14:08 EST 2006


One last post from me on this subject.

Thank you all, your comments have been very constructive.

But two comments:

1)  I have reviewed Acts 18:18 after reading Dr. Buth's comments on topic/focus.  Chinese and Japanese are languages that base their structure on topic and commentary on topic-Japanese even grammaticalize the topic.  I see a topic for Acts 18:18, but no focus, nor even a need for a focus.  The topic is PAULOS.  This helps clarify one part of the verse for me.  I now can view all the participles that are masculine-singular-nomative and verbs that are third person singular as referencing back to the topic.  This way I am not tempted to associate KEIRAMENOS and EICEN with AKULAS.

ACTS 18:18 hO DE PAULOS ETI PROSMEINAS hHMERAS hIKANAS TOIS ADELFOIS  APOTAXAMENOS EXEPLEI EIS THN SURIAN, KAI SUN AUTWi PRISKILLA KAI  AKULAS, KEIRAMENOS EN KEGCREAIS THN KEFALHN, EICEN GAR EUCHN.

2)  I do think there is a schema for the word order in this section, but it is not related to emphasis or focus or anything that fancy.  I think the word order, after the topic, is a reflection of the sequencing of people, places, and events as they appear in the narrative.

And one remark:  The usage of "brethren" is perhaps a function of the community you are a part of.  My community uses "brethren" quite often, and not as a translation of biblical works.  No doubt it is a reflection of the KJV, but its usage is normative.  If I was to annouce "The brethren will meet here", I would not use "brothers", that would sound strange to my ears.  Yet, I would say "brothers and sisters".  So I would suggest not all Biblish is Biblish.

John Sanders
Suzhou, China


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