[B-Greek] Jm 1:13 KAKWN

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Jan 23 05:57:41 EST 2007


On Jan 22, 2007, at 9:14 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:

> Jam 1:13b
>
> hO GAR QEOS APEIRASTOS ESTIN KAKWN PEIRAZEI DE AUTOS OUDENA
>
> What is the meaning of KAKWN (genitive plural) in this text?
>
> In the Source by Ann Nyland, this is not even rendered. From others I
> can see 'by evil things' 'by evil people', but, these surely are not
> the agent of the verb, like in hUPO + genitive, are they?

Wallace (page 125) calls this a "genitive of means": "The genitive  
substantive indicates the means or instrumentality by which the  
verbal action (implicit in the head noun [or adjective] or explicit  
in the verb) is accomplished. It answers the question, “How?” This  
usage is quite rare. (With the preposition ἐκ it is much more  
frequent, though that technically is not a gen. of means because of  
the presence of the preposition.)" He cites James 1:13 as an example  
and Englishes it as "for God is not tempted by evil."

I don't disagree with the understanding of the sense of APEIRASTOS  
KAKWN, but for my part, I wouldn't call it a "genitive of means" but  
rather a partititive usage. Understanding APEIRASTOS as "without  
PEIRASMOS" (not involved in PEIRASMOS), I would see KAKWN as a  
genitive of participation or sharing in the item or realm indicated  
by the noun.


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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