[B-Greek] imperative participle

Steve Runge srunge at logos.com
Mon Jul 16 11:31:37 EDT 2007


Lascelles,

There has been a discussion over the past few weeks under the heading 'Dative Participles'.  One of the points that was made is that framing an action as a participle rather than as a finite verb form (i.e. indicative, imperative) has the effect of backgrounding the participial action with respect to the main verb.  If an imperative mood had been used for both going and casting, both could have been viewed as equally important.  The use of the participle for POREUQEIS indicates that BALE is the more important of the two actions to the writer.

So, why do we call it an 'imperatival participle'?  Because Greek is not English, and we do not use participles in the same way as Greek.  Thus, since it would be rendered as an imperative in English, and it is a participle in Greek, people call it an imperatival participle.  Do not ask Carl if he thinks this is a good thing.

Hope this helps,

Steven Runge, DLitt (Biblical Languages)
Scholar-in-Residence
Logos Research Systems, Inc.
http://www.logos.com/academic/bio/runge 
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Lascelles James
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 8:13 AM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] imperative participle

Is there a simple explanation for the use of the aorist particple as imperative. As in Matt 17:27 POREUTHEIS. Why not use the aorist imperative instead?

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