[B-Greek] Nominatives and Genitives
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Oct 17 16:25:41 EDT 2006
That may well be what Father James and you are talking about, but I
really doubt that it has much to do with the construction that was
under discussion here in the LXX of Deuteronomy 17:8. Here the phrase
must clearly be governed by ANA MESON as a representation in Greek of
Hebrew BayN.
On Oct 17, 2006, at 1:57 PM, Donald R. Vance, Ph.D. wrote:
> David:
> To add to what has been said, this construction is called a "cognate
> genitive" and is a means of expressing the superlative degree in
> Hebrew.
> On Oct 17, 2006, at 7:41 AM, frjsilver at optonline.net wrote:
>
>> Dear Friends --
>>
>> This is a Hebraism, sometimes called in English a 'construct'
>> relationship: the second noun somehow modifies the first.
>>
>> In Hebrew, when the same noun is repeated in a 'construct', it
>> functions almost exactly as the superlative form of adjectives in
>> Indo-European languages, provided the second form of the same noun
>> is in the plural.
>>
>> So, eg, it's not quite right to render _malek malkim_ (BASILEUS
>> BASILEWN) as 'king of kings', but rather something like 'highest/
>> greatest king'; _qadosh qadoshim_ (TO hAGION TWN hAGIWN) isn't so
>> much 'holy of holies' as 'holiest place, inner sanctum'.
>>
>> These constructs are relentlessly calqued into the text of the
>> Greek 70, and KRISIS KRISEWS appears to be the same sort of
>> construction, although the singular number doesn't function as a
>> superlative adjective so much as a form of emphasis; the same
>> thing happens with verbs in construct with their own participles.
>>
>> In any event, such constructions aren't Greek, really, but Hebrew
>> in Greek clothing. Greek doesn't natively express itself in this
>> manner.
>>
>> I hope this helps a little.
>>
>> Peace and blessings to all.
>>
>> Father James Silver
>>
>> Monk James
>> Orthodox Church in America
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: David Thiele
>> Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2006 1:55 am
>> Subject: [B-Greek] Nominatives and Genitives
>> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
>>
>>> 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.
>>> Regards
>>>
>>> David Thiele
>>> Pacific Adventist University
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>
> Donald R. Vance, Ph.D.
> Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature
> Oral Roberts University
> dvance at oru.edu
> donaldrvance at mac.com
>
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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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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