[B-Greek] Col1:6,9: AF hHS hHMERAS

Elizabeth Kline kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Fri Apr 6 00:28:06 EDT 2007


On Apr 4, 2007, at 9:25 PM, Stephen Baldwin wrote:

> Ladies and Gentlemen:
> I was wondering whether anyone could provide some information or  
> references
> on the above construction.
> Zerwick/Grosvenor (GAGNT) say that it is a shortened form of
> APO THS hHMERAS hHi
> and provide no further information.
>
> Murray Harris says that it is an idiomatic form of AF hHMERAS hHi  
> where the
> dative singular rel. pronoun hHi has been attracted to the case of its
> antecedent and the result of that in turn transferred to the relative
> clause.
> This is at least an explanation of sorts but leaves one thirsting  
> for more.
>
> There seems to be an awful lot of attraction going on -- and being
> morphologically-minded, I'd like to know more. If there's anything  
> out there
> that will shed more light on attraction in general (err in a  
> linguistic
> context :-)), I'd be curious to read more...
>
> Thanks
> Stephen Baldwin

Stephen,

I will not respond to M.Culy's post since it was intended to be OFFLIST.

Guy Cooper has some things to say about AF hHS hHMERAS and the notion  
of attraction. In Attic Syntax 1.51.10.0 Cooper states:

  "A relative sentence functions in many ways as a syntactic complex  
equivalent to an adjective. Often such a relative sentence is thought  
of as being as a whole in agreement with a substantive, whether noun,  
pronoun or substantivization. The case of the relative then has,  
against the general rule, no regard for its function within its one  
(relative) sentence. ... At first glance it seems that the relative  
has been drawn into the case of its antecedent, and it is only upon  
reflection and with practiced stylist perception that it appears that  
the relative is agreeing with the syntactic function of its relative  
sentence as a whole, the phenomenon is often spoken of as  
attraction ... it is more accurate to speak of the relative as  
assimilating ... to the case function of its sentence."

The portion above was quoted to provide Cooper's framework for his  
reading of AF hHS hHMERAS which he does NOT consider as falling  
within his definition of assimilation.

Cooper 1.51.10.3

"The prepositional phrase AF hHS used after a form of hHMERA is a  
dating formula which need not be closely analyzed as an example of  
assimilation. It is comparable on the one hand to various semi- 
ellipses of hHMERA and the feminine used adverbially without  
ellipse ... "

I need to spend more time thinking about this, but it appears from  
the examples given in Cooper showing AF hHS used with a form of  
hHMERA, that the word order found in Col. 1:6,9 is attested in  
Demosthenes 9:19 AF hHS hHMERAS, 18:26 AF hHS ... hHMERAS. Cooper  
takes no special interest in this word order, he lists it right along  
with citations for hHMERAi AP hHS. The way I am reading Cooper (could  
be wrong!) he sees AF hHS as a syntactic functional unit (quoting  
again) "The prepositional phrase AF hHS used after a form of hHMERA  
is a dating formula which need not be closely analyzed as an example  
of assimilation."

Anyway, something to think about.

Elizabeth Kline







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