[B-Greek] Potential Opt. Acts 17:18

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Tue Oct 17 15:01:28 EDT 2006


Potential Opt. Acts 17:18

ACTS 17:18 TINES DE KAI TWN EPIKOUREIWN KAI STOIKWN FILOSOFWN  
SUNEBALLON AUTWi, KAI TINES ELEGON: TI AN QELOI hO SPERMOLOGOS hOUTOS  
LEGEIN; hOI DE: XENWN DAIMONIWN DOKEI KATAGGELEUS EINAI, hOTI TON  
IHSOUN KAI THN ANASTASIN EUHGGELIZETO.

Parsons/Culy suggest that the potential optative TI AN QELOI (BDF  
385.1)  indicates that the speakers do not expect Paul to say  
anything worth hearing. While the potential optative can be used  
ironically it does not always indicate irony (Smyth 1826). The main  
indicator of irony in this question is hO SPERMOLOGOS hOUTOS. Both  
the meaning of SPERMOLOGOS and the use of the demonstrative hOUTOS  
would serve to trigger an ironic reading of the question. In light of  
these factors the optative TI AN QELOI would also be read as ironic.  
But IMO stressing the ironic tone of TI AN QELOI as if it were  
independent of hO SPERMOLOGOS hOUTOS is somewhat misleading since the  
semantic contribution of the optative in this passage is low by  
comparison to hO SPERMOLOGOS hOUTOS.


Elizabeth Kline







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