[B-Greek] a prep always takes an object

Bryant J. Williams III bjwvmw at com-pair.net
Sat Nov 3 23:32:35 EDT 2007


Dear Carl,

And the people said, "AMEN."

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Carl W. Conrad" <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
To: "George F Somsel" <gfsomsel at yahoo.com>
Cc: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 6:48 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] a prep always takes an object


>
> On Nov 3, 2007, at 10:40 AM, George F Somsel wrote:
>
> > I'm inclined to think that the problem here is that there is some
> > confusion in the use of terms between the use in English and as
> > used in Greek.  In English a preposition likewise requires another
> > word to complete the phrase (a complement) which is generally, if
> > not always in the accusative or objective case (E.g. "He gave the
> > paper ** to me ** " where "me" is in the objective case)  Thus it
> > would seem that if this is transferred to Greek that it would might
> > be confusing to speak of a preposition having an object which is
> > then in the genitive or dative rather than the "objective" or
> > accusative case.  Simply substitute for "requires an object" the
> > phrase "requires a complement."
>
> Yes, and some even talk about Nominative, Genitive, and Accusative
> case in English. If it weren't for all the jargon that constitutes a
> language about language, learning languages would be a lot easier,
> wouldn't it?
>
> > ----- Original Message ----
> > From: Carl W. Conrad <cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu>
> > To: JMonte2000 at aol.com
> > Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> > Sent: Friday, November 2, 2007 6:39:55 PM
> > Subject: Re: [B-Greek] a prep always takes an object
> >
> >
> > On Nov 2, 2007, at 6:23 PM, JMonte2000 at aol.com wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Can I ask a question concerning preps. I could never get what it
> >> means
> >> when they say a prep like EN always takes an object in the dative.
> >> What  does it
> >> mean to take an object?
> >> I just could never understand this, and had no one to ask, or
> >> explain  it.
> >> Please explain in laymen terms.
> >
> > Prepositions don't function alone; many of them were perhaps
> > originally adverbs, and as such have been used as prefixes with verbs
> > to qualify the meaning of a verb in a manner similar to the way an
> > adverb qualifies the meaning of a verb -- as, for example, whereas
> > ERCOMAI means "come" or "go", EXERCOMAI means to "come out" or "go
> > out."
> >
> > But prepositions ordinarily are one element in prepositional phrase
> > and the phrase is not complete without a second element which we
> > usually call the "object" of the preposition. The Greek preposition
> > EK/EX can only have a substantive in the genitive case as its object,
> > as in EK THS OIKIAS ('out of the house'); the Greek preposition PARA
> > may have as its object a substantive in the genitive case, a
> > substantive in the dative case, or a substantive in the accusative
> > case; the meaning of the preposition will vary depending on the case
> > of its substantive object, as in PARA TOU PATROS ('from his/her
> > father'), PARA TWi PATRI ('next to his/her father'), PARA TON PATERA
> > ('near to/toward his/her father').
> >
> > I don't know how to make it any clearer than that. Those who can
> > should take a stab at it.
> >
> > Carl W. Conrad
> > Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
> >
> > ---
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>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
>
> ---
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