[B-Greek] Luke 4:7
Steve Runge
srunge at logos.com
Wed Jun 13 14:36:34 EDT 2007
Jonathan,
I would say argue SU is fronted to change the topic. There are two basic reasons for fronting something in Greek:
emphasis, and
to create a marked switch of topic, time, place, condition, etc., to create a new frame of reference for what follows, etc.
What Greek accomplishes through word order, English accomplishes using voice inflection/accent. Primary sentence accent is reserved for the FOCUS, i.e. the most salient information in the clause. Secondary accenting is used to mark the switches which establish a new frame of reference.
We can also use specific verbal frames to further disambiguate these two in English, but these are most often elided in speech.
Focus: "IT WAS X that was the focus of the party, NOT Y.
Topicalization/Contextualizing constituent/Point of departure:
As for X, she had just come to the party.
X, however, had just come to the party.
There is an important principle to note. When both a topicalized constituent and a focal constituent occur at the beginning of the clause, the topicalized constituent will ALWAYS occur first.
I would analyze Luke 4:7 as having two topicalized constituents: one to switch the topic from hWi EAN QELW in v. 6, and the other to establish a condition which must be met before the main verb predication holds. That would make 'EVERYTHING will be yours' the point of the utterance, with the fronted material functioning to establish a frame of reference. Go back and track where the discourse has come from. I will use all caps for focus, and *XX* for topicalization.
Translation:
TO YOU I will give all this authority and their glory,
because TO ME it has been given.
and *to whomever I wish* I give it.
Therefore, *you*, *if you bow down before me*, will be yours EVERYTHING (focus in it's normal position as close to the end of the sentence as typology allows).
Jesus responds in v. 8:
THE LORD YOUR GOD you will worship;
And HIM ONLY you will serve.
I am working on a paper as we speak that provides an introduction to the idea of prominence. Fronting most anything can make it prominent, whether it be the focus or topical info. However, prominence has different effects that depend upon the kind of information. Making topical information prominent by fronting has the effect of creating a new frame of reference for what follows. Marking focal information as prominent has the effect of adding emphasis. BOTH are prominent, but not all prominence is to mark emphasis.
The other example of a topic switch followed by a conditional frame in Luke:
15:8 *What woman having ten drachmas* *if she loses one drachma* won't (she) light a lamp...
The vast majority of the time the topic is contained within the conditional clause and is not separate.
If you are looking at syntactic theories, Dik's Functional grammar, The Prague School's Sentence Grammar and Lambrecht's Information Structure model, while all coming from different points of view, would agree that the fronted topicalized constituents always precede fronted focal constituents. Thus with two frames before the verb, SU is better understood as establishing a new topical frame of reference for what follows.
There are MANY more issues involved in considering constituent order at the clause level than what I have covered here. This basic overview is by no means complete. However it should illustrate the principles in play. Contact me off list if you would like to get a reading list on the topic.
Steve
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Robie
Posted At: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 4:31 AM
Posted To: bgreek
Conversation: [B-Greek] Luke 4:7
Subject: [B-Greek] Luke 4:7
Luke 4:7
σὺ οὖν ἐὰν προσκυνήσῃς ἐνώπιον ἐμοῦ,
ἔσται σοῦ πᾶσα.
SU OUN EAN PROSKUNHSHS ENWPION EMOU,
ESTAI SOU PASA
I'm trying to understand the exact shade of meaning that the initial σὺ (SU) adds - does it merely add emphasis - "now if *you* should worship before me it will all be yours", or is it more like, "as for you, if you worship before me, it will all be yours?"
What's the difference between the text above and this form:
ἐὰν οὖν προσκυνήσῃς ἐνώπιον ἐμοῦ,
ἔσται σοῦ πᾶσα.
EAN OUN PROSKUNHSHS ENWPION EMOU,
ESTAI SOU PASA
Thanks!
Jonathan
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