[B-Greek] Accusative of retained object

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Mon May 21 12:20:37 EDT 2007


It isn't, of course, only Wallace who note this usage.  Perhaps you might take a look at the examples A.T. Robertson cites 

Some verbs which have only one accusative in the active or middle yet retain the accusative of the thing in the passive with the person in the nominative. This is a freedom not possessed by the Latin. The person in the active was generally in the dative. Thus Paul a number of times uses πιστεύομαι [PISTEUOMAI] (πιστευθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον [PISTEUQHNAI TO EUAGGELION 1 Th. 2:4; ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον [EPISTEUQH TO MARTURION] 2 Th. 1:10; cf. also 1 Cor. 9:17; Gal. 2:7; Ro. 3:2; 1 Tim. 1:11). Then again περιβάλλομαι [PERIBALLOMAI] is frequently so employed, as περιβεβλημένος σινδόνα [PERIBEBLHMENOS SINDONA] (Mk. 14:51; cf. 16:5; and especially in Rev., as 7:9, 13; 10:1; 11:3; 12:1; 17:4; 18:16; 19:13). This is not the middle as Blass has it, though the future middle does occur in Rev. 3:5 with ἐν [EN], and the aorist middle with the accusative in Rev. 19:8. In Rev. 4:4 we have
 περιβεβλημένους ἱματίοις [PERIBEBLHMENOUS hIMATIOIS] (loc.), and margin (W. H.) ἐν ἱμ. EN hIM. Once more περίκειμαι [PERIKEIMAI] is used as the passive of περιτίθημι [PERITIQHMI] with the accusative of the thing, though the verb itself means to ‘lie around’ instead of ‘be encompassed with.’ So τὴν ἅλυσιν περίκειμαι [THN hALLUSIN PERIKEIMAI] (Ac. 28:20). Cf. also Heb. 5:2, but in Lu. 17:2 we have περί [PERI] repeated. 

Robertson, A. (1919; 2006). A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (p. 485). 

As with many things in language I would imagine that 

It was just one of those things
Just one of those crazy flings
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things

[Apologies to Cole Porter]
 
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
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Bert de Haan <b_dehaan at sympatico.ca>
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 11:59:51 AM
Subject: [B-Greek] Accusative of retained object


The second part of Rom.3:2 reads;
πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια 
τοῦ θεοῦ.
PRWTON MEN hOTI EPISTEUQHSAN TA LOGIA TOU QEOU.
I could not figure this line out even though it is only short and I know all 
the words.
TA LOGIA is what caused the difficulty.  The translations I checked have 
something like 'with the words of God'.
First of all, they were entrusted with the words of God.
I found what maybe an explanation in Wallace's GGBB on page 438.
I will quote some of it.
"Although it seems a bit odd to native English speakers, Greek sometimes 
uses an accusative with a true passive verb.  The major usage for such a 
structure involves the accusative of retained object. In this instance, the 
accusative of thing in a double accusative person-thing construction with an 
active verb retains its case when the verb is put in the passive. The 
accusative of person, in such instances, becomes the subject. This use of 
the accusative occurs most frequently with causative verbs, though it is 
rare in the NT."
Is there a reason why the accusative case is retained instead of using a 
genitive (or maybe a dative here)?
Does it emphasize something or is it just "one of those things"?
Can you possibly provide a paragraph # in Smyth that deals with this?
Thanks
Bert de Haan
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