[B-Greek] Double Negation with Subjunctive
Tim Davis
jttyger at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 4 10:00:33 EST 2008
I was taught to not never use a double negative in
Elementary School grammar classes, but in reading
through Matthew 5 today I noticed three instances of
two negative particles OU MH used with a subjunctive
verb.
Matt 5:18
IWTA hEN H MIA KERAIA OU MH PARELQH APO TOU NOMOU
Matt 5:20
OU MH EISELQHTE EIS THN BASILEIAN TWN OURANWN
Matt 5:26
OU MH EXELQHS ...
Upon attempting to look at this construct further,
this looks to be fairly common in the Greek NT (esp in
the Gospels and Revelation), and I assume it simply
stronger negation than simply using MH with the
subjunctive (though the "literal" translations I
checked didn't seem to attempt to reflect that).
As for my questions:
1. Is the OU MH construct generally understood to be
a more forceful negation?
2. If the subjunctive is thought to be the "mood of
possiblity," then may OU MH + subj be understood to
rule out said possibility?
3. It looks like I should "expect" a subjunctive
after a OU MH. If I do not find one (e.g., John 10:5
- OU MH AKOLOUQHSOUSIN), is there some different
nuance I should grasp?
Thanks,
Tim Davis
Birmingham, AL
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