[B-Greek] Acts 26:2-3
Barry
nebarry at verizon.net
Sun Feb 3 12:37:05 EST 2008
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "Barry" <nebarry at verizon.net>
Cc: "B Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Acts 26:2-3
>>I think you know better than that -- or why else is your tongue in
your cheek as you bite it (to keep it from slipping?). Lest any take
that too seriously, the accusative absolute is restricted to neuter
participles of impersonal verbs, except when it is called upon to prop
up a dubious proposition.<<
Right, Carl, as you frequently are. I was actually making fun of the
penchent some have for inventing or assigning obscure grammatical categories
to explain the text, when often a simpler explanation is at hand.
>>"Bad grammar" is perhaps not quite the right term either; I
acknowledged that it's perfectly clear what is meant by the sequence
here. I suggested earlier -- and still think -- that there's an
implicit participle governing GNWSTHN ONTA SE KTL. and I've also said
that I think it may have been omitted because deemed implicitly
carried forward from hHGHMAI. I called attention also to the fact that
the "indirect discourse" here is typically with participle (ONTA)
rather than infinitive (EINAI) because the clause is presumably
governed by a verb of perception or judgment. I suggested previously
that this was an anacoluthon, i.e. a grammatical non-sequitur
resulting from omission of an element needed to make the construction
complete; even Iver has suggested ellipsis here is probable. It seems
to me the particular sort of ellipsis/omission-by-oversight that is
characteristic of rapid composition, or even slow composition that
hasn't been very carefully proofread to catch such errors as omission
by oversight.<<
I agree completely. One sees this occasionally, though I can't off the top
of my head think of any examples.
N.E. Barry Hofstetter
Professor, WRTS
http://www.wittenbergreformed.org
Classics Instructor, TAA
http://www.theamericanacademy.net
and me:
http://mysite.verizon.net/nebarry
http://my.opera.com/barryhofstetter/blog
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