[B-Greek] Ps. 82 (81 - LXX)
Albert Pietersma
albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Sat Mar 18 11:22:12 EST 2006
Dear Michel,
First off, though one would label the Hebrew composition (Ps 82) a poem
and its author a poet, one cannot, it seems to me, transfer those
labels to its translation into Greek. The Greek is not written in a
manner that Greek listeners/ readers would recognize as poetry.
Furthermore, the Greek translator does not use Greek as though he were
writing a new composition. In other words, Ps 81 does not reflect
straightforward (compositional) use of the Greek language.
In v. 5, the Hebrew source text, for the two verbs in question, reads
so-called perfects. Since for such verbs the translator's default
gloss is the Greek aorist, there is no reason to assume that the
translator is exegeting his source. Instead, he is simply representing
what according to his system of defaults matches the Hebrew. In other
words the aorist should be read as a (normal) aorist. So much for the
Greek text AS PRODUCED.
The Greek text AS RECEIVED may or may not abide by reading the aorist
as a normal aorist. Since, as you note, Greek usage knows a so-called
gnomic aorist, it is quite possible that the aorists of Ps 81:5 be
re-figured/re-articulated as gnomic aorists. To find out one needs to
study the reception history of Ps 81.
Best,
Al
On Mar 18, 2006, at 10:39 AM, J.M. Pauw wrote:
> Hello,
>
> In studying Ps 81 LXX (about God in the assembly of gods) I was
> wondering why the poet used the aorists EGNWSAN en SUNHKAN instead of
> the present of these verbs. Are they to be treated as a gnomic aorist
> or does anybody else have another explanation?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Michel Pauw
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> website: http://dhost.info/jmpauw
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>
>
—
Albert Pietersma
Professor of Septuagint and Hellenistic Greek
Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto
Home: 21 Cross Street,
Weston ON Canada M9N 2B8
Email: albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Homepage: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list