[B-Greek] Left order prominence and construction -- Acts 5.18

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Sat Dec 30 09:40:44 EST 2006


Iver,

While Robertson may render this as "in public ward" in his _Word Pictures_, Barrett in his 2 vol ICC commentary on Acts renders it "and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in prison publicly", noting that the RSV, NEB and NJB render it as an adj.  In LSJ it would seem that the appearance of DHMOSIOS in the fem dat sg is fairly universally the use as an adv.  I am not able to examine every usage since I don't have all of the documents cited.  The fact that it appears in the dative in proximity to EN THRHSEI which is likewise fem dat sg is simply one of those unhappy coincidences which serve to cause confusion.  Had Luke used another construction rather than EQENTO AUTOUS EN THRHSEI, perhaps using EIS + acc, this would not have occurred since in that case DHMOSIAi would have stood out as not being in agreement and therefore PLAINLY an adverbial usage.  The alternative, the use of FULAKH, would have produced results in no way different since it is also fem.  The
 passage in Mt regarding John the Baptist has EDHSEN [AUTON] KAI EN FULAKHi APEQETO.  Apparently the idiom for placing someone in custody was a TIQHMI (or a compound thereof) + EN + dat.  The obvious culprit here is the use of EN + dat which has introduced this confusion.  Wallace in _Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics_, virtually acknowledges that DHMOSIAi is to be considered adverbial when he states "But since the dative is normally related to a verb rather than to a noun, there may be times of confusion" (p 171).  The only instance I have found of DHMOSIOS being used with a noun signifying a place of custody is in LSJ under FULAKH where he states "5. place for keeping others in, ward, prison, DHMOSIA F. D.S. [Diodorus Siculus]10.30."  Note that in this usage DHMOSIOS is clearly an adj, but it is also NOT in the dat.  All uses in the NT [Acts exclusively] and in the LXX [2 & 3 Macc] are in the fem dat sg and should be construed as adverbial.  In the case of the passage
 specifically under consideration, the verb(s) to which DHMOSIAi is related are EPIBALLW [EPEBALON] and TIQHMI [EQENTO].  It is striking that it is placed last.  This is about as far to the right as it could possibly be placed and still be in the same county.  It would appear that this does severe damage to your theory of left-order prominence.
 
george
gfsomsel
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org>
To: BG <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2006 7:59:24 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Left order prominence and construction -- Acts 5.18


George,

What about checking LSJ and other Greek literature? The adjective DHMOSIOS is alive and kicking, and
the three other data in Acts are not sufficient to disregard the usage of the word as a simple
adjective
in 5:18, when the context demands an adjective.

But I am happy to see that you have understood the principle of word order placement in Greek well
enough to know that this principle would make your suggestion of it being an adverb in focal
position untenable.

Robertson's word pictures has "In public ward (EN DHMOSIAi THRHSEI). As in 4:3 only with DHMOSIAi
(public) added, in the public prison, perhaps not the "common" prison, but any prison is bad enough.
In verse 19 it is called "the prison" (THS FULAKHS), the guardhouse."

I am not sure what a "common" prison is in English, but he is probably hinting at the KJV and RSV
translations that say "common prison" . There are several different words for a prison or jail, and
THRHSIS is not a common word for jail, since it is rather generic meaning "keeping (place)". Or
should we say a "lockup" to get closer to the feel of the Greek word?. So, the only function of
DHMOSIAi is to clarify that this holding place is not just any lockup in the temple precincts, but
the "public prison" as Robertson calls it or the "city jail" which Carl says is better English. How
many jails were there in the city? If there was a contrast intended between a public lockup and
another kind of lockup, the word order should have been EN DHMOSIAi THRHSEI. The more common word
for a prison is FULAKH, but Luke and Matthew also use DESMWTHRION. In fact, the same jail in Acts
5:18 is being referred to by 3 different words.

Bruce says that "the temple authorities... had them locked up overnight." It was detention until
trial.

Iver

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
To: "Iver Larsen" <iver_larsen at sil.org>; <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2006 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Left order prominence and construction -- Acts 5.18


While, as someone on the list said earlier, I hesitate to criticise my betters, if it seems that
they are wrong, so be it.  .....

The question then becomes "What does this say regarding your theory of left-order prominence?"

george
gfsomsel
_________

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