[B-Greek] Word Divisions

Alan Bunning bunning at verizon.net
Thu Apr 19 10:08:32 EDT 2007


> Here again I think that the usage of the MSS is significant: 
> the compounded forms are used. There is, however, some 
> confusion and occasionally some compounded past tenses have 
> double augments. I think that the Egyptian papyri are 
> instructive here with regard to the different usage by the
> better-
> and less-well-educated writers -- so also with regard to 
> spelling practice.
> 
> What about the past of EPISTAMAI -- HPISTAMHN. This is surely 
> a compound of hISTAMAI, but it is a compound so early that 
> EPISTA- is conceived of as a verb stem or root.

Excellent point! This is exactly the kind of *evidence* I am looking for.

> > The only way I think one could ever know that two words should be 
> > considered as one word, is that when used together they 
> have a meaning 
> > that is different than when they are used separately, and we would 
> > need someone like Bauer to tell us that. Yes, there should be 
> > *evidence* that leads us to treat words together, otherwise 
> I believe 
> > that the default should be to treat them separately. As an 
> example in 
> > English, IPICKEDANAPPLE ISAWAPINETREE IATEAPINEAPPLE. Here we see 
> > *evidence* that the words "apple"
> > and "pine" can stand alone. But we also notice that when 
> combined they 
> > lead to something different that you can eat. And then only 
> from the 
> > context from other writings would we know that these apples do not 
> > grow on pine trees and should be treated together as a separate 
> > compound word in that context.
> > Thus, evidence lead us to a conclusion, not an editor's use 
> of spaces. 
> > This is obviously a radical change to the current way of 
> thinking, but 
> > alas, no one seems to be able to explain why this shouldn't be the 
> > case.
> > Perhaps
> > there is something historical that Robertson failed to 
> mention. I hope 
> > you can shed some more light on this, for I am not really 
> wanting to 
> > have to reinvent this wheel, especially in the case of all those 
> > prepositions.
> 
> This is an interesting discussion. Some of it is dealt with 
> in the opening section of BDF (pp. 7-1-, §§8-16). There was a 
> fascinating book published not too long ago on the history of 
> English orthography; it was astounding to learn (and I only 
> got this from reviews; I haven't read the book) how RECENTLY 
> some conventional distinctions in English orthography were 
> established. If you read some 17th and 18th century printed 
> English works you can find the same words spelled differently 
> on the same page not infrequently.

Thanks for the reference. I will look into that.




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