[B-Greek] Ruth 2.15 LXX
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sat Sep 15 05:29:29 EDT 2007
On Sep 15, 2007, at 12:50 AM, Levi Simpson wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am struggling through the book of Ruth in my first foray into the
> LXX, and have hit a snag. I could use some help on how the 3rd per.
> sg. imperative is being used in 2.15. IIt is 3rd person sing, but
> (at least to me) obviously directed at the . Is there such a thing
> as a hortatory imperative
-- obviously directed at the what? Did you leave that blank
deliberately?
You should cite the verse:
Ruth 2:15 καὶ ἀνέστη τοῦ συλλέγειν καὶ
ἐνετείλατο Βοος τοῖς παιδαρίοις
αὐτοῦ λέγων καί γε ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν
δραγμάτων συλλεγέτω καὶ μὴ
καταισχύνητε αὐτήν
KAI ANESTH TOU SULLEGEIN KAI ENETEILATO BOOS TOIS PAIDARIOIS AUTOU
LEGWN, KAI GE ANA MESON TWN DRAGMATWN SULLEGETW KAI MH KATAISCUNHTE
AUTHN.
What follows after LEGWN is what BOOS tells his servants (PAIDARIOIS)
to do: "she is to gather" SULLEGETW and "don't treat her
shamefully" (MH KATAISCUNHETE AUTHN). Third-person imperatives
indicate what the speaker wants the person or persons who are the
subject(s) of those imperatives to do. You can say that the second-
person subjunctive aorist that follows (MH KATAISCUNHTE) clearly
enough indicates that the servants are not to deter or prevent her
from gathering, but he clearly wants Ruth herself (AUTHN) to do the
gathering.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
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