[B-Greek] Rev. 19:21--names written on what??
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Fri Nov 24 17:27:52 EST 2006
On Nov 24, 2006, at 4:57 PM, Webb wrote:
> KAI EPI THN KEFALHN AUTOU DIADHMATA POLLA ECWN ONOMA GEGRAMMENON hO
> OUDEIS
> OIDEN EI MH AUTOS
>
>
>
> Given that neuter plural nouns are often treated grammatically as
> singular,
> I immediately took the "name written" as inscribed on each of the
> royal
> crowns, thus:
>
>
>
> .and on his head are many royal crowns. They have a name (or names,
> implicitly, the singular functioning as distributive) written on
> them, which
> nobody knows but him."
The reason this won't do is that the participle ECWN is masc. sg.
nom. -- it cannot possibly modify DIADHMA sg. or DIADHMATA pl. It can
only refer to the rider of the horse, although it is awkwardly
positioned -- another of the grammatical irregularities of this book
that we commonly refer to as "solecisms."
>
> Looking at 35 English translations or so, I couldn't find a single
> one that
> took it that way. But then.I read Lattimore:
>
>
>
> "On his head are many diadems, inscribed with the name which no one
> knows
> except himself."
>
>
>
> I love it when Lattimore and I agree all by ourselves :)
>
>
>
> Can anyone tell me why Lattimore and I can't be correct?
>
>
>
> Webb Mealy
>
> ---
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Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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