[B-Greek] Nominatives and Genitives

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Tue Oct 17 08:11:47 EDT 2006


As one of probably a limited number on the list who read both Greek and Hebrew, I would like to add my voice in concurrence with what Carl has stated.  This is translation Greek so one should not draw any conclusions from this construction for what is true for Greek in general.
 
george
gfsomsel
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
To: B-Greek B-Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Cc: David Thiele <thielogian at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 7:45:12 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Nominatives and Genitives


On Oct 17, 2006, at 1:55 AM, David Thiele wrote:

> A friend has asked me about a particular Greek construction which  
> involves the use of a noun in conjunction with a genitive form of  
> the same noun.  Specific questions were:
>
>   1.  Does this construction have a technical name
>   2. Does this structure have any particular exegetical significane.
>
>   The text which led to the question arising was Deut 17:8 and  
> particularly its use of the nominative and genitive of KRISIS  
> together --
>
>   EAN DE ADUNATHSH(i) APO SOU hRHMA EN KRISEI ANA MESON hAIMA  
> hAIMATOS KAI ANA MESON KRISIS KRISEWS KAI ANA MESON AFH (h)AFHS KAI  
> MESON ANTILOGIA ANTILOGIAS,
>   (h)RMATA KRISEWS EN TAIS POLESIN (h)UMWN, ANABHSH(i) EIS TON  
> TOPON (h)ON AN EKLEXHTAI KURIOS (h)O QEOS SOU EPIKLHQHNAITO ONOMA  
> AUTOU EKEI
>
>   Any information that anyone can give me on this would be  
> appreciated.

I think this is a matter upon which our LXX authority, Al Pietersma,  
could probably best advise you, although I'm sure there are others  
here too who could help.

I think this is not really a matter of ordinary Greek construction  
but rather of a kind of woodenly-literal translation of Hebrew  
phraseology.
The real problem is with  ANA MESON hAIMA hAIMATOS KAI ANA MESON  
KRISIS KRISEWS KAI ANA MESON AFH (h)AFHS KAI (ANA) MESON ANTILOGIA  
ANTILOGIAS ... (I think you omitted an ANA before the last MESON);  
these ANA MESON phrases accompanied by the nominative and genitive of  
a noun seem to represent a Hebrew prepositional construction using  
Bayn and one noun, then L' and a second noun to expression of  
relationship between two persons/things or distinction/difference  
between two persons/things. The Greek translation uses the genitive  
sg. of the identical noun to indicate the second person/thing in  
relationship to or at odds with the first person/thing. Thus the  
phrase in the LXX Greek ANA MESON hAIMA hAIMATOS means something like  
"between blood and blood," ANA MESON KRISIS KRISEWS means something  
like "between legal claim and legal claim" and ANA MESON hAFH hAFHS  
means something like "between wound and wound," and ANA MESON  
ANTILOGIA ANTILOGIAS means something like "between counter-claim and  
counter-claim." These are all matters of disputes between two parties  
that are too difficult to resolve in a a court of local elders "at  
the gates" of a town and are matters therefore that must be taken to  
God's judgment at the shrine of the tribal confederacy.

I think we would have to say that the Greek in these phrases is not  
at all standard ancient Greek and would hardly be intelligible to one  
who has no understanding of the Hebrew original from which this  
derives. Certainly ANA MESON is here prepositional and the nominative  
and genitive forms of the noun are meant to indicate the antithetical  
pair that is governed by the preposition -- but no Greek preposition  
can govern a nominative noun.


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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