[B-Greek] Mk 10:13 Force of Imperfect + Aorist

Carl Conrad cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Apr 28 14:35:46 EDT 2008


On Apr 28, 2008, at 12:39 PM, Webb Mealy wrote:

> Mk 10:13
>
> KAI PROSEFERON AUTWi PAIDIA hINA AUTWN hAYHTAI,
>
> hOI DE MAQHTAI EPETIMHSAN AUTOIS.
>
>
>
> Question: which of these renderings best captures the sense of the  
> imperfect
> PROSEFERON and the aorist EPETIMHSAN?
>
>
>
> People started bringing Jesus children to touch, but his followers  
> scolded
> them.
>
>
>
> They were bringing him children to touch, but his followers were  
> scolding
> them.
>
>
>
> People were trying to bring him children to touch, but his followers  
> scolded
> them.
>
>
>
> As English, I like the second of these. Is it possible that the  
> imperfect
> PROSEFERON sets an imperfect tone to the statement that the  
> “vanilla” (i.e.
> unmarked) aorist does nothing to shift? Because if you render  
> EPETIMHSAN as
> a preterit in English, it feels like a “clunk”, a disjunction in the  
> time
> sense, has happened. Has it indeed? If so, what is conveyed in that
> disjunction, and how can it be conveyed most naturally into English?

I think that the sense of PROSEFERON is indeed tentative, that of  
EPETIMHSAN decisive. My sense: "People were intent on bringing him  
children to take in his arms, but his disciples would have none of  
that."


Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)






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