[B-Greek] Dative participial clauses
Elizabeth Kline
kline_dekooning at earthlink.net
Thu Jul 5 14:37:01 EDT 2007
Thank you Carl,
On Jul 5, 2007, at 4:52 AM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
> While the main clauses do not contain verbs that must construe with
> a dative complement, an argument might yet be made that these
> datives work syntactically with the main clause(s).
I agree. Some time after posting this I was reading over these texts
again and the others cited by G.Cooper (1.48.5.1) and it occurred to
me that "syntactically independent" was not the best choice of words.
When the main verb does not require a dative argument, the dative
participle clause may still perform some function relative to the
main clause. Cooper calls these examples "... participle complexes
which can be almost an equivalent of a genitive absolute." with a
qualification "Most examples show datives which remain in
construction with other elements in the sentence. But the relation is
sometimes loose enough that that translation as a separate clause is
convenient." Cooper's citations were intended to illustrate this
loose relationship.
> On the other hand, there's certainly no question that both of these
> dative participial clauses function much as do "Genitive absolutes"
> or genitive participial clauses, and one might say that both are
> temporal: "when they had revolted" and "while they were hemmed-in
> and under siege.
I agree, they both appear to be temporal and they share some of the
features of "Genitive absolutes" or pre-verbal genitive participial
clauses. One of the features is switched reference (Levinsohn:2000
pp. 181-182). In both of these examples the subject the finite verb
is different from the subject of the participle. The subject of the
participle is the person/group featured in the immediatly preceeding
context and the finite verb switches reverence to a different person/
group. In Th. 4.120.2 hO BRASIDAS is the new referent. In Th. 8.24.6
TINES is a group of traitors.
TH. 4.120.1-2
PERI DE TAS hHMERAS TAUTAS hAIS EPHRCONTO SKIWNH EN 2 THi PALLHNHi
POLIS APESTH AP' AQHNAIWN PROS BRASIDAN. 3 FASI DE hOI SKIWNAIOI
PELLHNHS MEN EINAI EK PELOPONNHSOU, 4 PLEONTAS D' APO TROIAS SFWN
TOUS PRWTOUS KATENECQHNAI 5 ES TO CWRION TOUTO TWi CEIMWNI hWi
ECRHSANTO ACAIOI, KAI AUTOU OIKHSAI. APOSTASI D' AUTOIS hO BRASIDAS
DIEPLEUSE 2 NUKTOS ES THN SKIWNHN ...
Th. 8.24.6
EIRGOMENOIS OUN AUTOIS THS QALASSHS KAI KATA GHN PORQOUMENOIS
ENECEIRHSAN TINES PROS AQHNAIOUS AGAGEIN THN POLIN:
Elizabeth Kline
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