[B-Greek] Accusative of retained object
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon May 21 14:54:19 EDT 2007
For what it's worth, there's an explanation for this construction which, though I firmly believe it to be true, will be rejected out of hand by most who think in traditional terms about ancient Greek voice:
Although these QH forms are called passive and can indeed be said to function semantically as passive in several instances, yet they are really syntactically middle, and middle verbs can take an accusative object. One might compare French usage in an expression like, "Ils ont eu les mains liées." That will English as "they had their hands tied" or "Their hands were tied."
Carl W. Conrad
On Monday, May 21, 2007, at 12:20PM, "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com> wrote:
>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 ?????????? [PISTEUOMAI] (??????????? ?? ?????????? [PISTEUQHNAI TO EUAGGELION 1 Th. 2:4; ????????? ?? ????????? [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 ???????????? [PERIBALLOMAI] is frequently so employed, as ?????????????? ??????? [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 ?? [EN], and the aorist middle with the accusative in Rev. 19:8. In Rev. 4:4 we have
> ??????????????? ???????? [PERIBEBLHMENOUS hIMATIOIS] (loc.), and margin (W. H.) ?? ??. EN hIM. Once more ?????????? [PERIKEIMAI] is used as the passive of ?????????? [PERITIQHMI] with the accusative of the thing, though the verb itself means to ?lie around? instead of ?be encompassed with.? So ??? ?????? ?????????? [THN hALLUSIN PERIKEIMAI] (Ac. 28:20). Cf. also Heb. 5:2, but in Lu. 17:2 we have ???? [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;
>?????? ??? ??? ???????????? ?? ?????
>??? ????.
>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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