[B-Greek] A Christmas Question

Donald R. Vance, Ph.D. donaldrvance at mac.com
Wed Dec 26 15:35:59 EST 2007


As Carl has pointed out, this is not the infinitive with cognate  
finite verb of which George spoke, but the very common in Semitic  
(and apparently in Greek according to Carl) construction of cognate  
accusative. In Hebrew, one "fears a fear," "dreams a dream," etc.  
There is no emphasis in this construction; it is simply how it is done.



Donald R. Vance, Ph.D.
Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature
Oral Roberts University
dvance at oru.edu
donaldrvance at mac.com


On Dec 26, 2007, at 5:43 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> But FULASSONTES FULAKAS doesn't require that sort of explanation;  
> it is a perfectly ordinary example of the cognate accusative, i.e.,  
> the accusative of a noun that is cognate to the verb being used; it  
> is not uncommon in Greek; cf. QUSIAN QUEIN ("sacrifice a sacrifice").
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (ret)
>
>
> On Tuesday, December 25, 2007, at 11:27PM, "George F Somsel"  
> <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> 1) What you find here is an example of Semitic idiom being  
>> imported into the Greek. In the OT the inf absolute was used with  
>> the finite form of the verb to strengthen the surety of the  
>> statement. In Cristoph van der Merwe's _Biblical Hebrew Review  
>> Grammar_ he states,
>>  "This construction usually intensifies the verbal idea. In this  
>> way BH speakers/narrators express their conviction of the verity  
>> of their statements regarding an action. When a speaker has used  
>> this construction, a listener would not be able to claim at a  
>> later date that the speakers had not expressed themself clearly  
>> enough."
>>
>>  This was somewhat picked up in the LXX translation. I say  
>> "somewhat" since it did not use an inf with the finite form of the  
>> verb to express this but rather used a noun of the same root with  
>> the indicative. In Gen 2.17 we read QANATWi APOQANEISQE or "by  
>> death you shall die", and in Judges 13.22 we find QANATWi  
>> APOQANOUMEQA or "we shall die by death." In Lk we have a slightly  
>> different form, but it is essentially the same, they were  
>> "guarding a guard" or "keeping close watch" and they "feared a  
>> great fear", i.e. they "were deathly afraid."
>>
>>  2) Most definitely you are engaging in etymologizing. Words do  
>> not always mean what we think they should mean from breaking them  
>> down into their components and then coming up with a definition  
>> based on the components. In this case it has the sense of  
>> considering, comparing, even engaging in debate over something. I  
>> would suggest that you at once sell your first-born child and buy  
>> BDAG (Baur, Danker, Arndt, and Gingrich, _A Greek-English Lexicon  
>> of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature_, 3rd  
>> edition. Accept no substitutes.
>>
>>  george
>>  gfsomsel
>>  _________
>>
>>  Original Message:
>>
>>  Ron Bonica <ron at bonica.org> wrote:
>>  Folks,
>>
>> The following are two seasonal questions:
>>
>> 1) In Luke 2:8, the shepherds are FULASSONTES FULAKAS (guarding  
>> guards?)
>> TES NUKTOS EPI TEN POIMNEN (in the night over sheep). In the next  
>> verse,
>> the shepherds EFOBETHESAN FOBON (feared fear) MEGAN (great).
>>
>> The double verbs (guarding guard, feared fear) caught my  
>> attention. Is
>> this a common construct? Is it used to suggest emphasis (e.g., the
>> shepherds were *really* concentrating on their flocks and then  
>> they were
>> *really* frightened).
>>
>> 2) In Luke 2:19, Mary SUMBALLOUSA (throws together?) EN TE CARDIA  
>> AUTES
>> (in her heart). The image of throwing strikes me as being strange.  
>> Does
>> it suggest that she was under stress or confused or overwhelmed?  
>> Or am I
>> reading too much into the root "BALLW" (throw)?
>>
>> Merry Christmas,
>> Ron
>> ---
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>>
>>
>> george
>> gfsomsel
>>
>> Therefore, O faithful Christian, search for truth, hear truth,
>> learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth,
>> defend the truth till death.
>>
>> - Jan Hus
>> _________
>>
>> ---------------------------------
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