[B-Greek] Mt 1:18 hEUREQH EN GASTRI ECOUSA
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at ioa.com
Wed Feb 1 15:13:50 EST 2006
On Feb 1, 2006, at 2:50 PM, Elizabeth Kline wrote:
> On Feb 1, 2006, at 11:09 AM, Iver Larsen wrote:
>
>> I see no
>> problem with the translation: "it emerged that she was pregnant"
>
> Other than the fact that no native English speaker would ever phrase
> it that way.
I think that all Iver was trying to do with this phrase was explain
how the Danish version "worked."
One question regarding these versions (and Harold's "it became
evident that she was pregnant") is whether hEUREQH in hEUREQH EN
GASTRI ECOUSA is to be conceived as an impersonal verb, in which
case, I guess, (MARIA) ... EN GASTRI ECOUSA will have to be some sort
of a complement. I frankly don't think that's very likely,
particularly in view of such other GNT instances of the idiom, e.g.,
Lk 9:36 KAI EN TWi GENESQAI THN FWNHN hEUREQH IHSOUS MONOS (Surely we
wouldn't want to convey this as, "it became evident that he was
alone" -- but perhaps some would.)
2 Cor 5:3 ... EI GE KAI EKDUSAMENOI OU GUMNOI hEUREQHSOMEQA -- "...
it won't become evident that we will be naked ..."?
Rev 16:20 KAI PASA NHSOS EFUGEN KAI ORH OUC hEUREQHSAN -- " ... and
every island vanished and it became evident that the mountains did
not exist ..."
Iver has brought in the Lucan pericope, which, in my opinion, is not
really relevant to understanding the phrasing of Mt 1:18; our concern
here is not with what happened but with how the phrase describing it
is best understood. My contention is that hEUREQH in Mt 1:18 is not
passive but is middle; it is somewhat like EGENETO, but EGENETO seems
more neutral in indication of event; hEUREQH has more the force of
becoming evident, much like EFANH (which is not passive but the
aorist middle of FAINOMAI), and like FAINOMAI, hEURISKOMAI in this
sense is a personal verb taking a nominative complement. Or so I think.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list