[B-Greek] Suppressed agent
Iver Larsen
iver at larsen.dk
Sun May 7 07:13:03 EDT 2006
Hi, Mitch,
It looks like you have arrived at the MH GRAFH in John 19:21. In the next verse, Pilate answers: hO GEGRAFA, GEGRAFA.
I would say that we are dealing with two different issues here.
One is how to suppress an agent or how to talk about an event without having to specify the agent.
The other is action by proxy.
An agent can be suppressed in basically three ways, I believe:
1) Use an indefinite pronoun or indefinite verbal affix as the 3rd person plural.
2) Use a very broad and semantically unspecific noun as for instance "people".
3) Use a passive construction.
Action by proxy is IMO a matter of social context. In hierarchical societies, it is common to say that a certain "big
man" did one thing or the other, but it is implicitly understood from the social context, that he did not personally do
this. Instead, he had his servants or soldiers do it.
Because modern, Western society is less hierarchical, I would sometimes as a translator into Danish or English make this
implicit information explicit. There is no need to do this in Africa or the Middle East. In John 19:19 the text says:
EGRAYEN DE KAI TITLON hO PILATOS KAI EQHKEN EPI TOU STAUROU.
It is very unlikely that Pilate himself made the inscription and placed it on the cross.
Some English versions make explicit that Pilate did not do this himself, and that is legitimate when translating for an
egalitarian society.
NIV: Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross.
CEV: Pilate ordered the charge against Jesus to be written on a board and put above the cross
NET: "Pilate also had a notice written and fastened to the cross"
Net has a comment here: "Grk "Pilate also wrote a notice and placed it on the cross." The two verbs should be read as
causatives, since it is highly unlikely that the Roman governor would perform either of these actions himself. He
ordered them to be done."
IMO, the NET comment makes the mistake of importing a social and contextual interpretation into the grammar. There is
nothing causative about the verb forms. Such comments are caused by the unfortunate habit of putting far too much of a
load on the grammar, and far too less on the contextual inferences. It is the context that calls for a causative
inference, not the verbs.
Iver Larsen
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitch Larramore" <mitchlarramore at yahoo.com>
To: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 4:12 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Suppressed agent
> As a follow up to the recent discussion of Active
> verbs with suppressed agent, here is a command issued
> in the 2nd person, called by some a Causitive Active,
> but again has a suppressed, remote agent(s).
> Apparently while Pilate was having the inscription
> written to place it on the cross, the Jews issue a
> command to him: MH GRAFE.
>
> Here again we have a suppressed agent as part of a
> Causitive Active verb. Pilate is instructing
> underlings to write an inscription for the cross of
> the king of the Jews. The Jews protest and command him
> not to (write) have written "king of the Jews." Pilate
> is having the agents actually write the insciption (so
> most commentaries). How does this example further
> inform us on how 'suppressed agents' are to be understood?
>
> Mitch Larramore
> Sugar Land, Texas
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