[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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