[B-Greek] Mk 8:12 - ... EI DOQH'SETAI...
Vasile Stancu
stancu at mail.dnttm.ro
Thu Feb 14 17:40:13 EST 2008
When I read this passage for the first time, I was somewhat struck by its
formulation. However, not as if I felt it was strange or difficult to
understand; on the contrary: it reminded me of the language I was so much
used to in my childhood, while living in a small, remote village in Romania.
The language spoken there (even to this day) is in many aspects not in
accordance with the official, literary Romanian language. It contains many
words which a "city man" would not understand at all and, moreover, many of
the gramatical structures are perhaps considered by others as mistaken.
Expressions are commonly used that could be translated as "Listen to me, if
it is not so and so..." or, "I say, if so and so" or, "Pay attention, if
such and such", all having a sense like "I tell you: that and that will
never (or, on the contrary: "surely") be so and so...". (Such situations are
encountered, of course, in large rural areas, not just in my native
village).
At least some of those who have expressed their desire to understand this
formula are hoping, I believe, to get an idea about the mindset that stands
behind it. And it for this reason that I am trying to read the mind of one
who uses it. Let me translate the situation we have with the old Greek text,
to our time, by using an example which is actual to me. My wife tells me:
"We have tomatoes in our garden that are just ripe". "So it seems to you?" -
I reply. "No!" she says, a little bit irritated, "it does not SEEM to me: I
KNOW it!" Why this apparent dissagreement? Because, even though we both are
using common words, whose significance is very well known universally, the
mindset that stands behind my saying "So it seems to you?" is not so
universal as I would like it to be. But what do I mean when I say that?
Well, this is difficult even for me to explain. It should be related to some
kind of modesty of the countryman, who prefers to leave some room for
alternatives, rather than declaring unequivocally something. It may be
because instinctively he fears God and feels that there are so many things
man cannot control. It may be because, living in an environment where
security systems are scarcely available for the everyday life, he is very
careful in making statements that are (or seem to be) definitive. Or it may
be simply superstition.
Coming back now to our expression in Greek, my understanding of the mindset
of one who uses it would be like this. A person is making a statement in the
presence of another person, in relation to something which is supposed to
happen in the future. Instead of simply saying, "I tell you: this will never
happen", as, for example, a teacher would say to the student, "It does not
work like that; drop it and try another way", he is somewhat binding the
other person to the same process saying: "I tell you this: this will never
happen; you cannot escape it, nor can you ignore it. And you yourself will
know it later", as the same teacher would tell the student: "I tell you that
Fermat's Last Theorem you cannot prove. Many have tried and failed. But try,
if you wish, and you will see yourself that I was right".
Anyway, the expression is in use even today, in an environment which is,
"seems to me", far from any Semitic influence as far as the everyday
language is concerned.
Vasile Stancu
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