[B-Greek] Double Negation with Subjunctive
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Fri Jan 4 14:34:01 EST 2008
On Jan 4, 2008, at 10:00 AM, Tim Davis wrote:
> 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?
1. OU MH with an aorist subjunctive is a very strong injunction.
2. I don't really think "mood of possibility" is quite adequate as a
description of the subjunctive; it quite often bears a force of
urgency or imperative. It might be better to think of it in terms of
non-factuality. As such it appears in constructions regarding what may
or could or should be true or happen.
3. You may find a future indicative with OU MH, although the
subjunctive is more common.
As for having been taught about double negatives as to be avoided,
remember that rules you have learned regarding English do not
necessarily apply to other languages. French uses two negative
particles regularly, e.g. "je ne sais pas" -- where both "ne" and
"pas" are negative particles/adverbs. Colloquial English, for that
matter, whether or not the grammarians forbid it, commonly enough uses
the double negative: "I ain't never gonna do that."
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at ioa.com or cwconrad2 at mac.com
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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